DESERT BLUES (Mali)

Museum of African Art
July 24., 21 h

The music of the Tuaregs and other peoples who live in the Sahara has become a world music hit in the past three years. This project was born at the first festival in Sahara, called "A Festival in the Desert". Another stage appearance of an important female band at BELEF, if not for the participation of the successor of Ali Farkh Toure, which Afel Bocoum certainly is.

Mali provides a fascinating survey of music tjat seems both plaintive and joyous, For the past forty years, the enigmatic Tuareg have been struggling for survival. They are menaced by state repression and by natural catastrophe of constant drought. Yet, thanks to their poetry, music and dance, the culture of this desert people lives on. The all-woman group Tartit - the name means "united" - comes from Mali. To hear their ballads and their compelling call-and-response songs is to be transported into the endless expances of the Sahara. You can hear the flames crackling as you listen to the entrancing voices of these women and the sound of tehardent and imzad - ancient precursors of the guitar and the violin. In accordance with Tuareg tradition, only the women play the tindé drum. Its vibrant rhytms are complemented by two male instrumentalists on tehardent and guitar. Truly desert blues.

By the banks of the Niger, "Great Bend", one of themightiest rivers in Africa, lies the small desert town of Niafunké, home to both the legendary musician Ali Farka Touré and his protégé Afel Bocoum, who is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful voices of the region. Together with his band Alkibar, meaning "Messenger of the Great River", in the Sonrhai language, Bocoum uses the river as an inspiration and guide, creating a sound steeped in tradition that captures the voice of the people and their relationship to the land.

Bocoum worked with Ali Farka Touré for over thirty years, making a fundamental contribution to the distinvtive sound that helped put the village of Niafunké on the map and its music in homes throughout the world. Bocoum released his first album in 1997, while subsequent European shows in 2001 have revealed Afel Bocoum to be a strong performer and compelling artist in his own right.

Artist places questions of diversity and the core of his work, singing in blend of the different ethnic languages, rhythms and melodies of the region. More firmly focused on the acoustic and traditional sounds of the surrounding cultures, he uses a one-stringed fiddle (njarka), a two-stringed guitar (njurkel) and calabash percussion with his acoustic guitar and impressive vocals.

With a remarkable finesse and a distinguishable talent, Afel Bocoum has proven to be a true "Messenger of the Great River", carrying the future of Mali's music into a new era.