Afel Bokoum

Following in the footsteps of his pop elders Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, and David Byrne, Blur and Gorillaz leader Damon Albarn acts as a world music ringleader with Mali Music. Serving as a benefit to the Oxfam charity, this first release from Albarn's own Honest Jon's label sees Albarn jamming on a haunted melodica alongside Malian musicians…

Hama Sankare, legend of Mali's desert blues, releases Niafunke, his second brilliant album recorded March 2018 in Bamako. Sankare brought into the studio dynamic young headliners, Oumar Konate, Dramane Toure, and Makan Camara along with long time colleagues Afel Bocoum, Yoro Cisse, and Kande Sissoko to forge a set of blazing tracks that breath new energy into the genre, breaking old formulas all the while honoring traditional roots. Niafunke, a city in Mali along the Niger River near Timbuktu is where Sankare continues to live with his family. He, Bocoum, and Cisse were contemporary collaborators with Ali Farka Toure whose home was also there; they can be heard on many of Farka's albums. Sankare's spirit engages everyone he meets. He has absorbed musical influences from around the world which he brings to these ten tracks.

A master of the kora (21-string West African harp), Toumani Diabaté has brought the traditional music of his native Mali to the attention of an international audience with a series of well-received solo albums and some unlikely, but acclaimed, collaborations. Although he came from a family of musicians, Diabaté (born August 10, 1965) taught himself to play the kora at an early age, as his father, who also played the instrument, was often away touring. He developed a style of playing that, while being strongly rooted in the Malian tradition, is also open to a wide range of other influences, such as jazz and flamenco. He has subsequently sought out other musicians from around the world who are willing to experiment with him, even performing a concert in Amsterdam with a classical harpist.