Amanar De Kidal - Aljahalat (Sahel Sounds) [Desert Blues]

Desert blues, although not a new sound, came to prominence with the deserved rise of Tinariwen, after their debut album in the noughties, and is one of this century's "new" genres that actually deserves distinct categorisation, and consequently is continually cemented by a growing number of artists who are either perpetuating these classic sounds, or increasingly deciding to cross-pollinate them with complimentary sounds. Amanar de Kidal, based in north-eastern Mali, is one of the latter.

With desert blues and Amanar's music context is important. The Tuareg people are the keepers of the desert blues sound, and as such the music is rebel music - the displaced people having been under pressure on all sides since the twentieth century post-colonial carve-up of their region, and not taking things lying down.

Band leader Ahmed explains: "Among the Tuareg, some are with Mali, some are with the rebels, some are with the Jihadists”. "Aljahalat", and their forthcoming album, Kel Tamasheq - out on 31st July, highlights the Tuareg's ideological divisions, and offers an identity rooted path to unity. The classic sounds are all there: the evocative Tamasheq vocals delivered, like the classic US soul sounds, with an innate depth and resonance that is only born from genuine hardship, and the raw, hypnotic, pan-continental guitar phrases, but smartly, considering the genre's connections to the sounds of black America, there's a simple, classic funk drum pattern underpinning the sound, augmented by a subtle, well-integrated funky wah-wah refrain that, due to its vintage nature, melts into the classic instruments surrounding it. It's a simple but deadly fusion, and boding well for the album due in a couple of weeks.

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Playlist Companion

Find Kidal in the Slow World Playlist.