![Album Review: Les Amazones d’Afrique – République Amazone [Real World Records, 10th March 2017]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/les-amazones-dafrique-335x335.jpg)
République Amazone, is a work, crafted by a supergroup of ten divas of African music – Les Amazones d’Afrique, the most well known of them being Beninese international superstar Angelique Kidjo. The album, lively from beginning to end, is primarily concerned with melding rhythm, elegance, and a message against the...
Tag Archives: Mali
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...
A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to attend one of the highlights of the London’s music calendar: Amadou & Mariam. The Malian couple delighted the Koko audience presenting their brand new work Bofou Safou and performing an exciting sold-out gig supported by London born-and-bred hip-hop narrator Afrikan Boy. Here’s what we saw and...
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...
Tamikrest always play pretty cool, eclectic music, with intricate layers of artistry. They blend rock and native music, native that is to West Africa. Their most recent album Kidal (released in March by Glitterbeat) is as cool as their music has ever been: a unique blend of poetry and instrumentals rocking out...
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”....
![Album Review: Tamikrest – Kidal [Glitterbeat Records, 17th March 2017]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/a2344764365_10-335x335.jpg)
For Glitterbeat Records, Tamikrest’s Kidal represents the perfect balance between the rock and meditative elements. The importance given to the message in the Tamashek language expresses the concerns of a marginalised people. The Tuareg people have a long history of hardship, oppression and insane control of political, economic and religious...
It will be on a Wednesday instead of dimanche (Sunday) and will happen in London (at Koko) instead of Bamako, but you can be safe and sound that djembes, n’doulous, baras and n’tamas will resonate all around Koko regardless. Amadou & Mariam are well and truly back, and ready to perform...
The concept behind the AfroCubism collaboration is to celebrate and unite some of Mali and Cuba’s hottest musicians and to explore their shared spirit of Afro-Cuban soul. In the Sixties, socialist Mali politics had close links to those of the new communist Cuban government, creating strong ties between the two...
![Album Review: Oumou Sangaré – Mogoya [NØ FØRMAT!, 19th May 2017]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/0.46752100-1486119148-335x335.jpg)
Oumou Sangaré was long ago crowned musical royalty in Mali. Known for her formidable vocals and fearless messages, she is celebrated for both her feminine sovereignty and her integral depth of traditional style. In the late 1980s she garnered popularity with her rendition of Wassoulou music, a regional style based...
