TITLE: Koima
LABEL: Thrill Jockey
Guitarist-singer Toure released a set of duets last year on Thrill Jockey; now he’s back with a full-fledged band recording. Toure, from Gao in northern Mali, sings in the Songhai language and his music definitely falls into the broad and now-popular desert blues category. All those elements, plus the instrumentation here (two acoustic guitars, calabash percussion, one-stringed fiddle and female background vocals) call to mind the late Ali Farka Toure (no relation to Sidi), and this session indeed has a lot in common with Farka’s breakthrough recordings. Sidi generally takes his material at faster tempos than Farka (although he also does a nice job on the stately-paced track 8), and his aggressive, precise lead guitar fills betray his interest in rock music and background on electric guitar. “Desert blues” as a category is a little bit like “old-time music” here in Virginia -- to the uninitiated it might all sound the same, for fans it’s the subtle differences that are the most thrilling. Sidi Toure definitely adds some new thrills to the genre; this album is a welcome addition to the desert blues catalogue.
TOP TRACKS: 3 5 7 8 9
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 1 2 4 6 10
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