On Sunday 11th August 2019 at 7:30pm, Malian group Songhoy Blues will play their distinctive brand of desert groove rock in the beautiful surroundings of the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre, as part of Nile Rodgers’ Meltdown Festrival. Although they can certainly be described as a desert blues...
Tag Archives: desert blues
The Enfants terribles from the Golan Heights are finally back! TootArd, the band that, little more than a year ago, fired us up with their second album (Laissez Passer) and related tour will be taking another trip to the UK pretty soon. Not only will they be playing two sets...
In our new podcast series, we’ve chosen to focus on who provide us with the precious “raw material” for our listenings and features: quality new music! We are talking about those heroes who decided to launch, nurture and cultivate a record label (better if with an ‘independent’ in front of it). As the...
![Album Review: Samba Touré – Wande [Glitterbeat Records; May 2018]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/wande-335x334.jpg)
Samba Toure, Malian blues legend, guided by one of Africa’s finest composers, Ali Farke Toure, released his third album, Wande, on the Glitterbeat label (May 2018). The opening track, “Yo Pouhala” (“blah blah blah”), sung in Fulani, is an unusually sedated introduction to the album. In sympathy with its subject...
![Album Review: BKO – Mali Foli Coura [BUDA Musique; November 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/bko-mali-foulo-coura-335x335.jpg)
Modern five-piece BKO return with their second album Mali Foli Coura released on Buda Musique records. Hailing from Mali, BKO combines fresh and zesty experimental sounds while remaining faithful to their African heritage, creating a unique, eclectic, electric, and danceable sound. After exhaustive tours stretching across Europe, China, and Africa,...
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...
Preview of the album: Track List: 1. Red Baraat – Tunak Tunak Tun [Rhyme & Reason Records] 00:00 – 05:20 2. Mista Savona – El Cuarto de Tula (feat. Maikel Ante, El Medico and Turbulence) [Baco Records] 05:21 – 09:18 3. Bokanté – Nou Tout Sé Yonn [GroundUP Music] 09:19 – 13:54 4....
An hour before Vieux Farka Touré is due on stage at The Jazz Café during his UK tour, he generously agreed to spend fifteen minutes sharing his thoughts about his latest music. Son of Grammy award-winning Malian blues musician, Ali Farka Touré, he has also achieved the status of globally...
Hailing from a flaming country lined with sandy gold, Vieux Farka Touré is one of Mali’s most shining jewels. He is the son of Ali Farka Touré, a highly regarded Saharan blues guitarist. Vieux secretly followed in his father’s footsteps to become a master guitar-tickling musician acclaimed for his immense...
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”....
