Bounaly - Dimanche à Bamako

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 194, January/February 2024.

Bounaly
Dimanche à Bamako
Sahel Sounds (47 mins)

If that title sounds familiar, it probably is: this album shares its name with Amadou & Mariam’s 2005 masterwork – both albums honour the Malian capital’s famous Sunday displays where weddings, street parties and other celebrations blanket the city with colour, food, extravagant dress and, of course, music.

This is Songhai guitarist Ali ‘Bounaly’ Traoré’s first full-length release, and it was recorded live, right in the middle of a Bamako Sunday. But he isn’t from Bamako; he hails from the north of Mali, from Niafunké, where so many guitar greats have come before him. He is one of the capital’s many internally-displaced northerners, whose numbers have grown dramatically since the outbreak of civil war in 2012. Those people need to party – that’s Bounaly’s job.

His rocked-up, cosmopolitan takamba sends the crowds wild. The group here consists of two vocalists, drum kit and calabash, but it’s that raw and roaring guitar that carries it. Extended, effects-soaked solos, blasted out of a distorted PA and competing with the sounds of cheering fans and playing children – it’s electric in every sense of the word. Hendrix once again casts his long shadow, as does Ali Farka Touré and Bounaly’s uncle Afel Bocoum, ending up with something akin to Songhoy Blues at their most rough and ready.

Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff - Magg Tekki

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 193, December 2023.

Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff
Magg Tekki
Mississippi Records (34 mins)

Assiko Golden Band have been a fixture on the Dakar music scene for the past 20 years, representing the Senegalese capital’s most populous – and crowded – neighbourhood of Grand Yoff. In its current form, the group is a 17-strong collective of drums, percussion and voices spanning three generations, led by poet, singer and flute player Djiby Ly. Amid the dense rhythmic tapestry, lyrics in Wolof and French give positive messages of power, hope and encouragement to stand up for those who have less, with spiritual references to Sufi Islam and Christianity throughout.

Although the band have been going for decades at this point, Magg Tekki is their debut album, and its sound has been very much crafted by Swedish producer Karl-Jonas Winqvist (also the architect behind the Wau Wau Collectif). Assiko Golden Band themselves were recorded in Dakar, but saxophones, accordion, kora, additional percussion and production effects were added later on in Stockholm. While these additions work well and supplement the Senegalese sound with references from Afrobeat, jazz and European folk, it would have been nice to hear the band in their unadulterated, direct-from-Grand Yoff form that has made them so popular in their own scene.

BCUC - WOMEX 23 Artist Award

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2023 delegate guide.



Based in Soweto, Johannesburg, Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness (BCUC for short) don’t limit themselves to the music of any single culture group. They epitomise the plurality of South Africa: their music reflects all the people around them, and they sing in all eleven of the country’s official languages. And from that, they make a big, big sound. Drums, percussion, bass guitar, whistles, horns and vocals – it all combines into a powerful driving force that becomes unstoppable. Their explosive live energy takes influence from hip-hop, rock, funk, gospel and Afrobeat, but also indigenous spiritual practices and magic. It’s no wonder they’re firm festival favourites across the globe.

With their all-embracing musical philosophy, BCUC are inherently political. Their songs are shot through with political messages and lessons. They hold high their values and social responsibilities, while being unafraid to criticise the wrongs around them. Like their music, their political perspective is uniquely South African while sharing a solidarity that encompasses the African continent and world as a whole. Even their organisation is utopian – the seven-piece collective is leaderless, each member contributing equally to the passion of the music.

BCUC represent the roots, trunk and branches of South African traditional music. This is cultural preservation in a way that isn’t frozen in time like a museum, but in a way that is living and breathing and growing and dancing. For their dedication to their music, their people and their country; for embodying the strength, unity and progress of their band name; and for their sheer ability to raise any roof, it is with pleasure that BCUC are the recipients of the WOMEX 23 Artist Award.


Photo: BCUC perform at WOMEX 23, by Jacob Crawfurd

On The Move - WOMEX 23 Professional Excellence Award

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2023 delegate guide.



The world music scene is built on a foundation of international cultural and artistic mobility. Our industry simply could not exist without thousands of artists and arts professionals navigating the channels of international travel and expansion, but those channels are many, complex, confusing and ever-changing. On The Move has spent the last 21 years helping artists along those channels, and opening up the artistic world in the process.

On The Move is a network and online platform that connects cultural workers of all disciplines with support, information and avenues to international mobility. This takes many forms: extensive guides to institutions and opportunities in territories across the world; global listings of open project calls; mentoring schemes; data-driven research and analysis; and events, including their annual forum. No single way of working is appropriate for all, and the key is in the recognition that mobility exists in many forms – including funding, fellowships, residencies, training and more.

Importantly, all of these resources are free to access and regularly updated to keep atop the latest developments. The heart of On The Move’s mission is the democratisation of international art: by sharing knowledge and tools, it ensures that arts do not become the sole reserve of the powerful and privileged. By giving more artists access to international mobility, the global arts community becomes fairer, more transparent and more sustainable. It also allows for specific help for artists who are disadvantaged within wider cultural spheres, such as disabled, minority ethnic or refugee artists.

For the world music scene and the wider arts ecosystem, mobility is not a luxury, but a necessity. In their commitment to providing this invaluable resource for artists and cultural professionals, On The Move opens the world to artists of all stripes. For this reason, we are delighted that On The Move is the recipient of the WOMEX 23 Award for Professional Excellence.

Nihiloxica - Source of Denial

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 192, November 2023.

Nihiloxica
Source of Denial
Crammed Discs (40 mins)

Nihiloxica were one of the highlights of this year’s WOMAD festival, after their scheduled appearance in 2022 was stymied by visa problems. The life of a band isn’t the simplest when half of you are based in Uganda and the other half are based in the UK. These experiences have fed directly into the overarching theme of the group’s second full-length album: it is a stinging critique of the UK’s draconian visa and immigration process.

The pounding Bugandan polyrhythms of the engalabi, namunjoloba and empuunyi drums meet the abrasive, overdriven synths of industrial trance. Extreme metal influence is heard throughout, from harsh noisescapes to doom-laden detuned bass-synth chugs. Across the whole album, computer-generated voices stand in for the monolithic state machine. It all serves to communicate the evil banality of bureaucracy, not just impersonal but anti-personal, reducing people’s rich lives and complex stories to a phone-tree, where injustices are in-baked as part of a system meticulously rigged to avoid even the merest suggestion of accountability. It sounds oppressive, because it is; it feels dystopian because it is – the reality of anyone without a powerful passport.

It’s heavy stuff, and rightly so. It is political protest, yes, but make no mistake, this is dance music. And you will dance: movement is forced from you by the sheer power of aggressive musical passion. Source of Denial is an impactful album, and its music is absolutely brilliant.

Chief Adjuah - Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 192, November 2023.

Chief Adjuah
Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning
Ropeadope (56 mins)

Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott) has foregone his usual jazz trumpet, relying instead on his amazing voice and invented instruments to explore his heritage as an Afro-New Orleanian, back through the Afro-Indigenous Maroons and to the ultimate roots, in Africa.

This is an album of two shades, and two complementary vibes. Some of the songs are sounded with voice and percussion only, the most reflective of the traditional Afro-New Orleanian music. These songs resonate with Adjuah’s pride in heritage and lineage, filled with remembrance and joyous reverence of the strength of the elders who came before. Other songs are darker and funkier, their sound based around Chief Adjuah’s Bow, an instrument of his own design that resembles a minimalist electric kora or kamalengoni. These tracks are heavier, channelling centuries of righteous anger against still on-going subjugation. The epitome of these is the title track and centrepiece of the album, a 15-minute Gil Scott-Heron-like poetic meditation on Black liberation and white supremacy.

Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning is a powerful album of African music, culture, language and religion, filtered through generations of ancestral memory, obscured and revived over and over into something that could only come from 21st century New Orleans.

Sawa Sawa - Sawa Sawa

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 192, November 2023.

Sawa Sawa
Sawa Sawa
Jinn Records (33 mins)

Sawa Sawa (‘All Together’ in Sudanese Arabic) is a project that unites artists from across Sudan to make a statement for peace and togetherness within the country. This debut release spreads that message as a multi-discipline, multimedia concept album made up of eight artworks, eight short stories and eight pieces of music, all specially commissioned from a diverse range of artists.

The musical side of things takes in almost as many stylistic influences as performers – of whom there are 19. The main sounds are Afro soul, reggae and lightly funky rock, with Sudanese and pan-African scales, rhythms and timbres sprinkled throughout. Unfortunately, it’s all a bit thin. The reggae is bland, the soul feels obvious and the rock guitar solos are often cheesy. Perhaps it’s a symptom of over-fusion. Sudanese music can be so exciting and spicy! It’s a shame that this album doesn’t showcase that to its fullest.

But really, that’s all less important than the project’s noble goal of unity and celebration, made all the more poignant by the recent conflict in Sudan. Millions of civilians have been displaced by the war, including members of the Sawa Sawa family. All credit to those involved in this worthy endeavour – the positive, human impact of art should always be celebrated.