The Rough Guide to Mali Blues

Nine years ago, The Rough Guide to Desert Blues provided an impressive overview of the music of the Sahara, including contributions from a whole bunch of famous Malians – everyone from that legendary guitarist Ali Farka Touré to Tinariwen and Bassekou Kouyaté, along with Ali Farka's protégé Samba Touré and Tartit, that great desert blues band dominated by female singers. Now comes a follow-up, concentrating only on Mali, and mostly featuring lesser-known artists on either previously unreleased tracks or earlier recordings for World Music Network. So there's nothing here from Afel Bocoum, or current blues-rock stars Vieux Farka Touré or Songhoy Blues, though there are songs from Samba Touré and Tartit. And the set does include the excellent Anansy Cissé, who was forced to flee to Bamako when Islamist extremists took over northern Mali. His thoughtful call for peace in the country is matched by Modiba Diabaté on ‘Bonya’, which asks rich Malians to invest in their homeland and features kora backing. It's one of four tracks taken from the 2015 Lost in Mali compilation album.

The final eight tracks are all ‘previously unreleased’ and range from what sound like sturdy field recordings to the breezy electric blues of Bally Du Dezer. Mysteriously, the sleeve notes offer no information on any of them.