Quicksand

The French producer Philippe Sanmiguel moved to Bamako 16 years ago and has since produced a raft of fine albums by the Malian bluesman Samba Touré as well as working with the Touareg band Tartit, the young Songhai guitarist Anansy Cissé and Les Amazones d’Afrique singer Mariam Koné. His Black Mango persona started with a 2014 EP on Glitterbeat on which he brought together some of his favourite African collaborators to play on his own compositions. Over the years the project grew to become a full ten-track album of rock-inflected desert blues refracted through a dubby, trip-hop filter and with his own vocal contributions delivered in an atmospheric semi-spoken baritone.

The opener ‘Bakeina’s Dream’ features Ali Farka Touré’s nephews, the singer Bocar Sana Coulibaly and guitarist Ali Traoré, who have their own band called Espoir de Niafunké. Samba Touré lends his stinging guitar lines to the haunting blues of ‘Are U Satisfied’ and features again on ‘Mad Girl Lament’, which is sung mesmerisingly by Mariam Koné. The raw guitar playing of Anansy Cissé lights up ‘The First Stone’ and Zoumana Tereta adds the haunting sound of the sokou (one-string fiddle). The entire album was remixed by Hugo Race (Bad Seeds, Dirtmusic), ensuring the focus remains sharp and coherent throughout.