Under African Skies: Faris, Mbongwana Star & Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba

Faris: Mississippi To Sahara

The last installment featured some sweet new afrobeat-infused tunes. This week we go straight back to Africa, starting in the Sahara which has been a source of some deep Tuareg tunes making their way westward. The newest revelation is Faris who makes the already implicit connection between blues and West African music a very tangible one. On Mississippi to Sahara, he takes 12 old school Delta blues tunes (“Jesus on the Mainline,” “Lay My Burden Down,” etc.) and covers them in the beautifully sparse, desert-swept Tuareg style. His versions are almost unrecognizable and while retaining their full emotional punch. The recording is gorgeously lo-fi: for the most part guitar and voice only, which is just about all it needs.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com /album/3yCwCroF5W0NDP7Qacgz1k

Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/faris/album/mississippi-to-sahara

Rdio: http://www.rdio. com/artist/Faris/album/Mississippi_to_Sahara/

Bandcamp: https://reaktionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mississippi-to-sahara

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Mbongwana Star: From Kinshasa

Somehow the title of Congolese band Mbongwana Star’s debut album says it all. From Kinshasa: it sets the place and the spirit of the music. It’s a hectic, ragtag sound – part funk, part electronica, part R&B, part rock and roll and part who-knows-what. It’s all tied together with a wonderful homemade, from-scratch spirit that would be a novelty if the music wasn’t so great. Guitars sound not like they’re from another continent, but like they’re from another planet altogether with thumb pianos and paranoid dance beats adding to the unique energy of lyrics that seem to come at you from all directions.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com /album/4pJLTVI1ja3JCN50r5osdC

Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/mbongwana- star/album/from-kinshasa-world-circuit

Rdio: http://www.rd io.com/artist/Mbongwana_Star/album/From_Kinshasa_1/

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Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba: Ba Power

How about some serious negoni shredding for you? Bassekou Kouyaté is a master of the ngoni, a sort of lute or banjo traditional to West African music. In the hands of Kouyaté, after a little engineering of course, it’s a force to be reckoned with. On his newest album, Ba Power, the music takes in a variety of influences and sounds: soulful and groovy, impassioned and ecstatic. There are western flourishes (Robert Plant’s drummer, Dave Smith provides a backbone) and addictive percussion rhythms galore, but the highlight throughout is Kouyaté’s playing: impossibly fast and melodic and funky while sounding not quite like anything else you’ve heard before. Ba Power indeed.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com /album/09L6uPsTTySQQMKk1JBCkw

Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bassekou-kouyate- and-ngoni-ba/album/ba-power

Rdio: http://w ww.rdio.com/artist/Bassekou_Kouyate__Ngoni_Ba/album/Ba_Power/