The first rains were falling outside Timbouctou. A cold wind carried the bruised clouds over the river and the waving grasses, dampening the scorched ocher of red earth. I remember hearing about Abba, listening to a muffled cassette in Nema, across the border in Mauritania. The rain was also falling…
The new proverb says "all roads lead to Kickstarter," and I've joined the fray in this latest push -- to bring "Music from Saharan Cellphones" to a vinyl. In a rather ironic twist the musicians whose sounds were found on communication devices are incredibly difficult to locate. Google search algorithms…
context: The sun has set by 8:00pm, the hour of sundown rarely changing this close to the equator, and the paved streets are bumper to bumper after evening salah -- rusty Mercedes and aged Peugots, held together with wire and prayer, fighting along with evasive turns and blasts of the…
The headquarters of Maadeny CD are in a tiny store along car choked road just next to the capital. In appearances, it's hardly different from any of the other "standards" throughout the city -- closet sized boutiques selling cassettes and cds. The wall is lined with wooden shelves of cassettes,…
Music from Saharan Cellphones Vol. 2 -- more of the same, if not an increased selection of sounds from Mauritania (referred to as "Jagwa" collectively east of Shinqit). Again, all mp3s collected in the town of Kidal, the quintessential desert crossroad. Some of the track titles are lost to the…
This little cassette of music ("Music from Saharan Cellphones") collected from cellphones has been in internet circulation lately (update -- and the Guardian UK). Pitchfork did a nice write-up on the phenomena of "musical scarcity", Rupture at Mudd Up! has given it some blog/radio play, and Portland's own Gulls put…