Timbuktu Tarab

The absolute highlight of WOMAD Charlton Park last year for me was the Malian singer Khaira Arby from Timbuktu. Surrounded by brilliant young musicians, she had all the stage presence of a grand dame of Malian music. I had been introduced to her by Ali Farka Touré when I was first in Mali in 1988, with Andy Kershaw, recording the Now That's What I Call Mali series for the BBC. The soft, young voice I heard then is now a commanding force of nature and this album, Timbuktu Tarab, lives up to that WOMAD show.

Born from Songhai and Berber parents, Arby has written several songs on the album about the different ethnic groups of the north of Mali, and ‘Tarab’, the title-track, is about trying to build a homeland. That’s something that has become more urgent in Timbuktu, with the recently declared Touareg and Islamist state of Azawad seeking autonomy.

What makes Arby’s music so exciting is the brilliant mixture of traditional and modern. The opening song, ‘Goumou’, about an Islamic festival, is permeated by the soft sounds of ngoni lute and desert fiddle while ‘Khaira’, about her own mission to spread joy through music, is driven by the electric guitar of Abdramane Touré. His flamboyant, distorted guitar sound is integral to the sound of Arby’s band.