The Desert Songs

The other day I came across a series of articles on Slate about traveling in Mali; in one of them, the writer talked about the Festival in the Desert at Essakane and specifically noted the one in 2003 in which Robert Plant was one of the few non-African performers (others included a terrific French folkrock/worldbeat group named Lo’Jo and a Navajo punk rap/First Nations group, Blackfire). Now it happens that I am a fan of Malian music, particularly kora master Toumani Diabate and the well-known Ali Farka Toure (who among other things recorded a terrific Africa/Blues set, Talking Timbuktu with – that’s right folks, Ry Cooder!), and that I have the 2003 CD of performances at the Festival in the Desert (which is the name of the CD).

So, since we’re just back from the Sonoran desert (not the Sahara – more scrub than sand - but common themes of heat, aridity, huge open expanses of time and space, and the fierce tenacity of life - prevail), the article triggered my last two days of work music for the week – the Festival In The Desert CD itself, and the Roswell Rudd/Toumani Diabate collaboration, Malicool.

Festival is a great introduction to contemporary interpretations of Malian music, including some interesting fusion sets with French and Italian musicians, as well as some Mauritanian performers. The music has strong beats, sometimes like galloping camels/horses, over which are often laid call-and-response vocals, typically unison voices where only the octaves vary (e.g., not much harmony). This style of Malian music has a very a North African sound (other side of the desert), and reminds me of Algerian Rai dance music.

The other side of Malian music is represented by the lyrical plucked sound of the Kora, the West African harp, and the light percussive beats of the balaphon and the smaller djembe drums. Although Toumani Diabate is not on the concert recording, his occasional duet partner, Ballake Sossoko, makes lovely music in performance with Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi.

A neat album, documenting a festival that I’d like to attend one day (it’s still an annual event), although reading about Mali, Essakane, and Timbuktu make it clear that it’s not like spending a week-end in Newport. If you’re a interested in African music, this is an excellent intro to some of the sounds of West Africa, and the musically fertile country of Mali in particular.

The other album, Malicool, is an unexpectedly successful venture featuring free jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd, and the aforementioned kora artistry of Toumani Diabate, accompanied by guitar, bass, balaphon and djembe. It’s great fun, with Roswell’s seemingly totally out of place trombone clearing a spot for itself as a griot-style voice, dancing around Diabate’s flowing lines with swagger and brassiness (I love it when figurative expressions turn out to be literal!). Even a take on Monk’s “Jackie-ing” (Monk is in my personal pantheon) works well, occasionally slipping eccentrically into a Malian rhythm and simple major chords before veering back into Monk’s universe; like all good interpretations, it adds insight to the piece while maintaining its original integrity). A fine CD for jazz fans, worldbeat fans, or anyone who’s looking for music by skilled players and improvisers that’s inventive, playful, and not the kind of thing you hear everyday.

Indicidentally, I was going to call this entry "Good Golly, It's Mali!", but even I have my limits.