Mali emerged on international stages in the mid-1980s with singers like Salif Keita and bands like Bamako's legendary Rail Band du Buffet Hotel de la Gare (which launched the careers of both Salif Keita and the late Mory Kante). These singers are from the central region, they perform music of the Mande people and have been joined by music from other regions, notably from the southern Wassoullou region (music from megastars like Oumou Sangare) and northern and eastern Mali, the latter of which was promoted by the late guitarist/singer Ali Farka Toure.
Toure, who I interviewed in the early 1990s, told me that the northern Malian repertoire came from more than 10 languages and ethnic groups; he had both Songhay and Fulani ancestry but was comfortable singing in around 10 languages. After Toure died, his son Vieux Farka Toure and Afel Bocoum continued this northern tradition with the former being dubbed "the Hendrix of the Sahara" after performing at the 2020 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, although that moniker had already been taken many years earlier by another influential northern Malian musician, Zani Diabate and his Super Djata Band.
In 1997, Ali Farka Toure invited young guitarist and singer Samba Toure to join his band. The young man began to travel, experience cultures in different parts of the world and, most importantly, learn his craft from mentor Ali Farka Toure. When the latter died in 2006, Samba decided to go it alone. He recorded and released several local Malian albums before signing a deal with World Music Network in 2008 to record his first international album, Songhai Blues.
He formed a band and began to tour internationally. He changed record labels and joined Glitterbeat Records, releasing a series of successful, award-winning albums: Albala (2013), Gandadiko (2015) and Wande (2018). These albums topped some of the World Music charts in Europe and the US.
He is from the same region as his mentor Ali Farka, hailing from the "big bend" in the Niger River, not far from Timbuktu. He is a Songhay, a member of a group that was once Mali's biggest empire and his new album, Binga, which is the Songhay name for the region he comes from, just south of the Sahara, celebrates his cultural roots. Samba has reportedly said that although he cannot return to his home due to the violence and displacement in that region, he stills feels drawn to his roots. He said that the new album is about his culture and heritage.
What is immediately apparent is that the music on Binga is much more intimate and stripped down than on his previous albums. It's a mainly acoustic album driven by Toure's brilliant electric guitar, Djime Sissoko's ngoni (a single-stringed lute), Souleymane Kane's calabash percussion, and on some tracks the spare, minimal sound of Richard Shanks' bluesy harmonica.
The album is bookended by two traditional Songhay songs (all other tracks are self-penned). The opener Tamala is a traditional song that celebrates Songhay culture and important figures from the past. It begins with simple repetitive guitar riffs, then is slowly joined by calabash and ngoni before Toure begins to sing with his raw-edged voice which is answered by a chorus. It's a great start as it sweeps the listener into the groove, ready for more.
Atahar makes an angry plea for better education in Mali (Toure had little formal education in his remote village and was forced to seek work in the capital Bamako as a teenager), while Kola Cisse celebrates the head of the Mali Football Association who spurred interest in sport in the country. Terey Kongo celebrates the beauty of Malian women, and on Sambamila he ponders whether modernisation in Malian villages has improved the simple village life he experienced as a child. On the beautiful Fondo, he sings about leaving the village for the big city (a theme fans of pleng luk thung and molam are familiar with). Shanks' understated harmonica wails in the background on this track, and several others to great effect.
But the outstanding track for me and one that I take as inspirational for the new year is the hopeful, upbeat Sambalama, which takes on many of the social ills that have crippled Mali in recent years -- civil war, insecurity, poverty, Covid-19 and cancelled tours -- and reminds everyone that Samba Toure is still standing, confident of better days to come. It's a magnificent uplifting song that I take as my mantra for 2022.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
