Takamba music is played on traditional guitar (tamashek: teheredent), with a remarkable distinctive rhythm tapped out on a calabash. It's always accompanied by a beautiful ghostly dance. I've written about the music previously and released a few records. The origin of the music remains somewhat shrouded in mystery. Suffice to…
Luka Prod - New Track Luka Productions, known around here for his Fasokan LP and renowned in Mali for a prolific output of contemporary Malian Hip Hop is back in the studio on a new project. Bringing in a group of musicians, ngoni, guitar, percussion, synth, and computer, it's very…
The new music video for Ami Yerewolo's "A San Nièfai" takes Malian Hip Hop into a science fiction future. In the video, a trio of post apocalyptic survivors wander through the Malian countryside, stumbling on the destroyed and smoking ruin of the capital. Meanwhile, they are pursued by a vehicular…
In 2015, I had the opportunity to work on a bit of a dream project entitled Uchronia, an exhibition and recording lying somewhere between conceptual art and experimental ethnography. The process was a series of collaborative "fake" ethnographies (or ethnographic forgeries) - a very flagrant self conscious expression in a…
For sometime I'd been on an elusive search for the West African metal musicians. It appeared that metal didn't exist the Sahel. Enter Shine. Band leader Daouda Dao is a professor at the Arts Conservatory of Bamako. It's Bamako's art school, with active theater courses, plastic arts, visual arts, and…
Digging at the mp3 market in Bamako, I had the vendor send me over a folder entitled GAO RAP. Containing, of course, what the title says - Rap music from the Northern Mali city of Gao. Which in itself would not be so remarkable if it wasn't for what rap…