Troubadours of Allah

Sufi Music from the Indus Valley

(WERGO, 1999)

A wealth of previously unheard musicians, from Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab, as well as top vocalists Pathane Khan, Hamid ali Bela and Nasiruddin Khan Saami and musicians playing rare instruments like the ancient alghoza and the murli (also known as pungi), the latter usually employed to charm snakes. Utterly enchanting, with excellent production quality and lots of atmosphere. JAMEELA SIDDIQI

Sékouba Bambino

The Griot’s Craft

(Stern’s Africa/Syllart, 2012)

Even without understanding the lyrics (which mostly praise patrons, plus a protest against female excision), this album shows us why Sékouba, a jeli (griot) from Guinea, has been a top star across the Mande world for four decades. His voice, with its huge range, has a purity of intonation and understated emotion. With the female chorus, koras, ngoni and virtuosic acoustic guitars, played by some of Mali’s best traditional musicians, the album is entrancing. LUCY DURÁN

Miguel ‘Angá’ Díaz

Echu Mingua

(World Circuit, 2006)

The debut by Cuban percussionist Anga Díaz – father of the Ibeyi sisters – is a masterclass in skill, feeling and music-as-spirituality. All incendiary solos, inventive five-conga patterns and to-and-fros with the likes of pianist Rubén González, bassist Cachaíto López, Malian ngoni player Baba Sissoko and French DJ Dee Nasty, Echu Mingua weaves son, salsa, jazz and hip-hop to tell Díaz’ music journey. JANE CORNWELL

Stephan Micus

Nomad Songs

(ECM Records, 2015)

Micus is a musical nomad. He travels the world collecting instruments, learning to play them and creating unique compositions and combinations with them. Nomad Songs celebrates people connected to the earth and uses the deep Moroccan gimbri and delicate ndingo thumb piano of Botswana’s San people, plus guitar, shakuhachi and voice. A sequence of vibrant, memorable pieces. SIMON BROUGHTON

Edith Lefel

A Fleur de Peau

(Globe Music, 1999)

Edith was my life partner until her tragic death in 2003. Her magnetic voice, poignant Creole lyrics and promotion of Caribbean heritage seduced all around her. Yet, the Martinique-Guyanese never conquered aficionados beyond her native community. Edith’s smile hid a melancholy she chronicled in songs on love betrayed, feminist revolt, and child abuse – themes as universal as her musical contribution should have been. DANIEL BROWN

Waterson:Carthy

Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand

(Topic Records, 2004)

A mighty album of English traditional songs and tunes – and more: Norma Waterson in marvellous voice; Martin Carthy’s masterly guitar playing; daughter Eliza a powerful presence; Tim van Eyken’s beautiful singing and swinging melodeon. Highlights include: ‘Napoleon’s Death’ and Norma’s uplifting transformation of Grateful Dead’s ‘Black Muddy River’. I hailed the album as ‘magnificent… destined to become a classic’. Twenty years on, I stand by that. JULIAN MAY

Pandit Pran Nath

Midnight (Raga Malkauns)

(Just Dreams, 2002)

A spellbinding performance by Hindustani Kirana vocalist Pandit Pran Nath. It captured him singing ‘Raga Malkauns’ for 46 minutes in San Francisco in 1971 and the same raga interpreted differently for over an hour in New York in 1976. Terry Riley and La Monte Young play tabla and tambura respectively. A connection to the sacred and divine nature of music. MICHAEL ORMISTON

Lobi Traoré

Mali Blue

(Dixie Frog, 2004)

A street musician who plied his trade in Bamako’s most disreputable bars, the late Lobi Traoré recorded four obscure but brilliant albums in the 90s for the Cobalt label, one of which was produced by Ali Farka Touré. This compilation brings together 14 of the best tracks from those recordings, revealing the guitarist to be the most potent, funkiest, down-and-dirtiest African bluesman of them all. NIGEL WILLIAMSON

Justin Adams

Desert Road

(Wayward, 2000)

Recorded after he travelled to Mali with French band Lo’Jo, met Tinariwen and bought an ngoni, this was the DIY album that announced Adams as a remarkable guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and producer with influences from Africa to the blues. He played almost everything himself: guitars, keys, ngoni and percussion, and the result is a glorious atmospheric soundscape from the moody, drifting title-track to the gutsy ‘Wayward’. ROBIN DENSELOW

Takashi Hirayasu & Bob Brozman

Jin Jin/Firefly [Released as Warabi Uta in Japan]

(World Music Network / Riverboat Records, 2000)

Hirayasu and Brozman recorded this on an island in Okinawa, in four days; they had never met before. Hirayasu, a sanshin (Okinawan long-necked lute) maestro who played with Champloose, seamlessly blends Okinawan children’s songs with Brozman’s evocative steel guitar on standouts such as the spectacular ‘Jin Jin’ and ‘Chinnuku Jushi’, and evocative ‘Chon Chon Kijimuna’. Spellbinding. JOHN CLEWLEY

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue – subscribe today