Héritage

A decade on from Songhoy Blues’ explosive debut Music in Exile, it’s probably time to stop calling the band from Timbuktu the young punks of desert blues. Certainly, Héritage, their fourth album, takes a step back from the heavy, crunching guitar rock of past records in favour of a deeper, more nuanced and traditional exploration of Malian roots music. Drummer Nathanael Dembélé seems to have gone and the remaining trio are here joined by traditional instrumentation including kora, one-string fiddle, kamalengoni, flute, balafon and calabash percussion. The result is a collection of semi-acoustic songs that draw on the rich panoply of Malian styles from Touareg rhythms to Mande griot music via the Wassoulou sound associated with Oumou Sangaré, and more. Garba Touré still gets to unleash some rocking lead guitar on ‘Batto’ and adds some string-bending Chicago blues licks to ‘Boutiki’ but in returning to the rich heritage of Malian traditional music, Songhoy Blues have fashioned in Héritage their most mature, diverse and soulful set to date.