Tchamantché - Rokia Traoré (2008)

Ideated from: The Eights. going back ten years each day

Traoré is from Mali. There is a distinctive sound to Malian music, probably due partly to the gigantic influence of Ali Farka Touré, the king of the “Desert Blues.” Driving, trance-like beats and figures that depend on repetition to build to full steam.

Traoré is remarkable not just because she can hang with the best of the Malian guitarists, but also because she refines the usually abrasive music into something genuinely soft and heartfelt.

There’s a lot of the same driving beat as in lots of West African music, but there’s a refinement to it, a definite distillation of influence into personal vision.

Tracks I Liked

Zen - slow-building groove that sucks you in

Tounka - really raises a ruckus, but elegantly

Tchamantché - interlocking vocals weave a spell