From its very inception, Sahel Sounds singled itself out for its contemporary presentation of music being made in the Sahel region. Their 2011 compilation Music from Saharan Cellphones, featuring songs that label founder Christopher Kirkley had collected during trips to the region, marked them as especially questing curators of curiosities.  

With the internet sparse in the Sahel, music there would be shared from mobile to mobile via Bluetooth. After discovering this music, Kirkley began sharing ostensibly ‘viral’ Sahel hits on his blog and on cheaply-sold cassette tapes, until putting together the aforementioned compilation, which sought to remunerate the artists for their work.

In 2020, the label began a similar project, but updated for the times now that the internet is more accessible. Every month throughout the year they uploaded a new EP to their Bandcamp, a live performance from a Sahel artist recorded on their phone and sent via WhatsApp, which would disappear at the end of the month to be replaced by another. 

Etran de L’Aïr

The best of these ephemeral recordings have now been collected on a compilation, Music from Saharan WhatsApp, featuring performances by Etran de L’Aïr, Les Filles de Illighadad’s Amaria Hamadalher and Nigerien synth pioneer Hama.

Speaking of the project Sahel Sounds’ Ben Parrish says, “the biggest surprise was the positive reception from fans, the amount of money we’ve been able to pay to artists, and the doors it’s opened for them. For example, Etran de L’Aïr were one of the smaller bands on our label when we launched the series but since then they’ve had an Album of the Year in The New Yorker, toured Europe, and are getting booking requests from all corners of the globe.”

Music from Saharan WhatsApp is out on now via sahelsoundscompilations.bandcamp.com