Tuning Pegs & Fishing Line

Albums marketed as collaborations between world music artists and musicians from the developed world are often subject to the dreaded artistic piggyback syndrome, with one artist completely overshadowed by the other. Happily, Tuning Pegs & Fishing Line has easily sidestepped this issue. As the name of the project might suggest, these are the musical results of what began as the daydream of two London students – to cycle from the UK to Mali. They met as many musicians as they could across their journey, and these first-time producers and arrangers managed to come up with a sparkling thing inspired by elements of UK folk song, Malian and Senegalese music.

Mikaela Khan sings traditional English folk songs such as ‘Green Brooms’ and the American traditional song ‘Darlin’ Corey’, which sound great with a big bouncy ngoni (lute) as bass, with kora and other African instruments alongside electric and acoustic guitars. The mix of updated English folklore with and original and traditional Mande music, and even English and African languages within the same song work surprisingly well, as do additional cello and clarinet. The only question is: where did it all go so right? Looks like they might well be getting on their bikes again soon.