Where to start with Mali Desert Blues
Mali Desert Blues is a genre from Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya (Sahara/Sahel region), 1968–present. Its principal artists include Ali Farka Touré, Tinariwen and Ibrahim Ag Alhabib. This issue covers 10 essential albums and 14 dated events.
Start here
- 1
Talking Timbuktu
Ali Farka Touré with Ry Cooder · 1994Original release: World Circuit · WCD040 · CD · UK 1994Touré with Ry Cooder, the Grammy winner most Western listeners met him through, and the case he spent years arguing: that the blues began in the Sahel.
- 2
Aman Iman: Water Is Life
Tinariwen · 2007The record that took Tinariwen past world-music fans to rock audiences. Start with "Cler Achel."
- 3
In the Heart of the Moon
Ali Farka Touré with Toumani Diabaté · 2005Original release: World Circuit · WCD072 · CD · UK 2005Guitar and kora in conversation: Touré and Toumani Diabaté, recorded near the end of Touré's life.
Go deeper
- 4
Niafunké
Ali Farka Touré · 1999Original release: World Circuit · WCD054 · CD · UK 1999Released in 1999, this album pulled the opposite direction from most artists at the height of their fame: deeper into place rather than away from it.
- 5
The Radio Tisdas Sessions
Tinariwen · 2001Original release: Triban Union · CD · France 2001Tinariwen's 2001 debut full-length was recorded at Radio Tisdas, the only Tamashek-language radio station in the region, and marked the first time the group's music was distributed beyond northern Africa…
- 6
Amassakoul
Tinariwen · 2004The 2004 worldwide release that pulled Tinariwen firmly into an international orbit, drawing celebrity admirers including Bono, the Edge and Robert Plant, and setting up the festival circuit success that would follow.
- 7
The River
Ali Farka Touré · 1990Original release: World Circuit · Digital Media · Worldwide 1990Released on World Circuit in 1990, The River was one of Touré's earliest releases for the label that would define his international career, building his reputation just as world music…
For the obsessed
- 8
Ali Farka Touré ("the red album")
Ali Farka Touré · 1984This 1984 self-titled release, known ever after as 'the red album' for its cover, sat unremarkably in a Paris record shop until BBC DJ Andy Kershaw happened on it by chance.
- 9
Tassili
Tinariwen · 2011Original release: V2 · VVR776938 · CD · UK 2011Featuring guest appearances from Nels Cline and members of TV on the Radio, Tassili won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, the high-water mark of the band's critical recognition in the West.
- 10
Amatssou
Tinariwen · 2023Original release: Wedge · WEDGECD0123 · CD · Europe 2023Produced by Daniel Lanois and released in 2023, Amatssou found the band still collaborating with major Western rock producers more than four decades after friends first gathered around a campfire…
The stories behind every record are in Mali Desert Blues, a members' issue.