Binga

Having started his career as a protégé of Ali Farka Touré in 1997, Samba Touré is now a firmly established artist in his own right. On his new release he has stripped his band right down to the bare bones, omitting bass guitar, sokou (traditional fiddle) and tama (talking drum). This leaves just his stinging desert blues guitar backed by ngoni and the thump and clicks of a calabash. There is an occasional harmonica, which eerily replicates the effect of the sokou. It is an austere sound and it matches Samba's strident voice, which certainly could not be described as being delicate. Crucially, the sparse sound perfectly matches the melancholic subject matter, which laments the desperate socio-political situation in Mali where poverty is rife, child education and healthcare is sporadic, and potential violence is never far away – particularly in his home region Binga. It is not all doom and gloom: the album opens with ‘Tamala’, a Songhai traditional song featuring the female Wassoulou singer Djénéba Diakité, and a couple of other tracks reflect Samba's optimism for the future of his homeland. Powerful and dignified.