The Malian quartet Songhoy Blues has every reason to be rebellious and wanton. After all, two members managed to escape the extremist Muslim movement Ansar Dine, which runs a reign of terror and forbids music in the north of Mali. But on Optimism they also defied the laws of the desert blues, which have grown into a fairly defined style. Songhoy Blues mainly wants to rock and opens their third album
… with the almost against metal gurgling Badala, which in Malian also means something like get the hell out of here. After that the songs start to rock and twist according to the desert blues laws again, but the energy remains high and the atmosphere rebellious. Nice how Songhoy Blues shows Blues that western rock means as much to them as their North-African roots. Beautifully they know how to bring this together, nice and raw and unpolished caught by producer Matt Sweeney. (MR)more
