Songhoy Blues return to London to play a much-anticipated gig at Kentish Town’s O2 Forum on Friday the 25th of January. The Malian blues group is now well-known due to their unique yet accessible sound and in part due to their tumultuous formation – the band members left their home due to civil conflict and an extremist regime that sought to ban music. This was the inspiration for their debut album – Music in Exile – released in 2015, which featured backing vocals from Damon Albarn.
Their latest album Résistance (released in June 2017) was met with equally positive acclaim, and the band continue to bring their upbeat live performances to excited audiences around the world – playing everywhere in London from the Roundhouse to the Royal Albert Hall over the past few years.
While their sound is distinctly Malian – specifically Malian blues in the tradition of Ali Farka Touré – the band’s love of guitar-led rock bands such as the Clash, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles shines through. This gives an interesting modern twist to a genre beloved by so many and sets them apart from similar artists. Indeed, it is a beautiful thing to see a blues band born from such trying circumstances becoming known for their energetic and positive live shows. Do not miss it!
At times, we are the first to lose track of how many exciting music events happen in London each month, so we have decided to offer you some sort of “public musical service”, meant for all the locals and passers-by, with the aim of suggesting where to listen to some…
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Back in 2013, the story of Songhoy Blues made the headlines. After being forced to move to Bamako by a jihadist group that banned music in northern Mali, Garba Touré founded the band “to recreate that lost ambience of the north and make all the refugees relive those northern songs”….
If your music is strong enough to overcome religious fundamentalism and exile, how can a narrow-minded visa denial possibly harm it? That’s why Songhoy Blues, without their original bass player (who was stuck in Bamako because of an issue with his documents) performed a show to remember at Omeara. Introduced expertly,…
Although the story behind how Aliou Touré, Garba Touré, Oumar Touré and Nathaneal Dembélé became Songhoy Blues is not all roses — they were forced to fled to the capital Bamako after northern Mali was occupied by jihadists — their music is everything but sorrowful. A sold-out Roundhouse could not…
Songhoy Blues, the new Malian sensation, can no longer play in their native region because of the music ban imposed by jihadists back in 2012. Instead they have built an audience and reputation beyond Malian borders, becoming one of the most ambitious projects shaped on African soil. Their desert-rock/blues, which…
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