Music in Exile

You know this is the shit I’m here for

Clearly inspired by the late, great Ali Farka Touré, Songhoy Blues brings the same unstoppable energy to their music that made Ali so influential. "Music in Exile" is powerful and moving in a way that modern American blues so often isn't. The electric tones of Muddy Waters and Albert King find whole new dimensions when they're shaped and guided by the unexpected rhythms and patterns of Malian music. It's a whole vibe and I couldn't be more here for it. I don't understand a word that's being said and I don't care. This is just so damn good.

Something about African rock always excites me—these distant cousins just sound right together. This record really succeeds in incorporating western influences in a natural way, on top of the Malian Blues that’s already an exciting hybrid. There is also a lot of variety here, from the rock focused Soubor to the Ali Farka Toure influenced Wayei to the acoustic Petit Metier. Musicianship is great, vocals are great. Plus the record is an act of defiance against repression and religious fundamentalism, so what more could you ask for?

Desert blues, you say? Also known as Tishoumaren, you say? Tishoumaren , which is based on a french word meaning 'Unemployed', you say? EXILES YOU SAY? Five stars, I say.

This was a nice album, reminded me a bit of Power of One. Not sure why it's on this list but glad it is just for the variety and it not being a british rock band.

This is by far the best non-English language album I’ve gotten on this list so far. It’s exactly my type of blues rock and every song is a banger from start to finish but especially soubour and petit metier. Even if I can’t understand I can feel the political message through the music and that’s just the icing on the cake for a great album; would kill to hear it live. Also, this has been a great run of albums the past week or two

I didn't hate it you know. A bit like that Chesterfield Middlesbrough Fa Cup semi final in 1997.

Musically this was great, and I am sure based on the wiki that this tells a great story, however partly due to the language barrier it wasn't for me

I used to get a lot of mileage out of "Soubour" in my spinning classes. I like the driving beat and bluesy, guitar-up-front sound, as well as the fact they all sing. The song-writing is good. They stick to their style but the songs vary enough to keep it interesting. I only listened to it once, so I'll assume I would have liked it even more second time round.

vibrant music from Mali, swinging and righteous

These guys know how to play! Too often the blues can be boring, but these guys know how to tear it up. The language barrier is detrimental unfortunately. It’s not their fault, but I am the one doing the ranking. So the lack of my understanding the words prevents me from truly understanding the whole package. One thing I did pick up on is that the lyrics were often repetitive. From a not knowing the language point of view, I think the repetition would be more of a negative if I did know the language. One last comment on the fuckers who ran these guys out of their homeland. What kind of asshole do you have to be to not realize what a treasure their music is? This part of their story bumps them up a 1/2 star.

This is an absolutely stellar album. A while back on this list, I get Savane by Ali Farka Touré, and this album reminded me a lot of that, which makes sense as they were influenced by him. It's really cool to see people from all over the world pick up American Blues Rock and make it their own. The guitar work on the album is incredible, both intricate and filled with emotion. I've been lamenting recently that I've been getting a lot of albums that are cool and significant, but aren't worthy of 5 stars on first listen. This album cured that. I loved the sound of it from the beginning of the first song, and every song after that was great, and then the album ended and I was sad 5/5

Only need to hear the first 2 songs to see that I was going to enjoy this album. Amazing discovery!!!

this is belting. they're all called toure or dembele so they're probably fucking mint at football too. does this mean i'm a world music guy now? man i'm old. what time is giles peterson on?

An early example of the safe bet desert blues a sizeable swathe of music crit publications still have an appetite for. Distinctly Saharan sans any especially peculiar instruments or tones, and, crucially, containing nothing to threaten sacred ideas of what constitutes rock and pop. Not knocking the group, just the framework for sticking them in the pantheon. This is nice. Try the Dakhla Sahara Session from Cheveu and Group Doueh from roughly the same time for a more incendiary and politically-charged example of the same kind of music.

This is something I would never have been aware of but for this project. The mix of “desert blues” and rock is remarkable, I absolutely love it! I was drawn to this immediately and each listen opens up more of this to me. The guitars are amazing. Reading the backstory of the group it is amazing how joyful music about dislocation and trauma can be. So glad to have encountered this!

Great album. It's rare that I fall in love with something on the first listen, but this did it for me!

Ah, this was brilliant. So laid-back and enjoyable.

Yeah, I loved this - could happily listen to Mali's desert blues all day! Super interesting to hear fragments of rock n roll picked up and woven into their own tradition. Fave track - "Soubour" is a great opener. "Wayei" for something on the chiller side...

Oddly catchy and enjoyable. I liked the album and would listen again.

ЧЁРНОЕ НА БЕЛОМ КТО-ТО БЫЛ НЕ ПРАВ Я ВНЕПЛАНОВЫЙ СЫН АФРИКАНСКИХ ТРАВ

sounded like Muddy Waters went overseas

After a week of receiving dubious albums this was a nice surprise. I'm a big fan of music from Mali but there's no delicate string sounds of the Kora here, this is predominantly pretty heavy blues infused electric guitar. Wiki shows that they started out covering Ali Farka Toure, but despite having the same surname there isn't any relation. I guess Toure is the Smith of Mali. I shake my head when I read that many folks dismissed this album because they don't understand the lyrics. I guess they're also the same folks that also don't watch foreign flicks with subtitles. Oh well, their loss, they're missing out on some pretty soulful and glorious music.

Oh, Album Generator, why can't you be like this more often!? Bloody fantastic! Fits right in between the mystical madness of BKO's "Djine Bora" and the folksy, more sparse side of this music on N'Gou Bagayoke's "Kulu", two other great albums I gladly discovered this year. Go listen! Totally goes into the collection (will skip "Nick" every time, though, those drums can fuck off.).

Brabos

Songhoy Blues have a pretty interesting story that's well-encapsulated by the title of their debut album, Music in Exile. members of this band were artistic refugees, pushed out of the north of Mali by the armed conflict that began there in 2012. a jihadist group had taken over much of the region and banned music, resulting in scores of musicians fleeing to cities in the south of the country to continue practicing their craft. one such musician was Garba Touré, who took a bus down to Bamako with his guitar, forming Songhoy Blues with other northern refugee musicians in an effort to invoke the musical spirit of northern Mali, and lift the spirits of other northerners in their predicament. adding to the "exile" component, this album was recorded in London as a result of the band's interactions with artists in the Anglosphere such as Damon Albarn (who landed them a placement on an Africa Express compilation), Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the album's producer) and Julian Casablancas (whose label partnered with Atlantic to release this album in North America). the band's hypnotic blend of American and British blues and psych rock with traditional West African music is highly evocative of the desert landscapes its members originate from. it bears something of a resemblance to África Brasil, which was Jorge Ben's attempt at a similar fusion of styles, although his take is, of course, much more on the Afro-Brazilian side of things. plus, Songhoy Blues have a much longer history of rock music to draw from than Ben did! there's a lot of really intricate riffing across all these tracks, and plenty of deep pocket and exciting rhythms that you just don't hear that much in "Western" rock music. this is music which, even if I don't understand the words being said, I can still feel a lot of vitality in. it was created out of the circumstances of an ongoing crisis in Mali, one of the main aims of which seems to be to erase the freedom of artists to properly express themselves. talk about using music as a means of creating opportunities to feel empathy! light 8/10.

I don't know their language. But listening to this I could hear protest, heartbreak, confussion, happiness. Everything was genuine and compelling. I liked the music as well. This was worth the listen

Sometimes it's nice listening to musics in languages I don't know for the poetry of the sound. I found that I was able to appreciate the voice as an instrument rather than vocals since I didn't know what was being said. I thought the rest of the music was also easy to listen to and enjoy. I wasn't expecting blues music from west Africa but I can see myself coming back to this one.

Great recommendation that I would not have discovered on my own

I love desert blues. I love it when it is relatively unpolished, and they are just settling into the groove and bashing ti out. After this played, some more produced later material and remixes appeared, and they did not do it for me. But I can totally lock into the groove of what they are playing here. Dig it!

Another hidden gem, this was great.

An interesting melding of Eastern music and American Blues. I really did not care for it overall. I think the musicianship was fine but I did not care for the vocals. I liked "Soubour" and "Nick" but the rest of the songs were just meh. I feel like this album would not be included in the list if it weren't for the Band's backstory and the obstacles they overcame to create their music.

Bullshit.

I honestly can’t believe that anyone rated this above a 1

Every week doing this I’m reminded that a lot of the albums generated on here just don’t fit the bill of “NEED” to hear before you die. Like, no. I respect this type of music and I’m sure it’s good to people who can understand the lyrics but like, no enjoyment unfortunately. Didn’t understand a word

This is #day60 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... while I sympathize with the band's backstory and the hurdles they had to overcome before creating music, I agree that this album wouldn't have made it to the list otherwise. Generally, I don't mind blues, but this... I just can't relate to what I hear on this album. Maybe I'm numb. Sorry, this is a one-off experience for me. I'm giving it a 1 out of 5. Looking forward to #day61.

Great music is great music.

V happy to see this album on here, think it's fantastic

Really fun Album, loved the energy. I has reminded me of many artist that I love. A perfect album to hear at the beach, surf vibes. Type of album I would recommend to my dad.

THIS is what I'm doing this for

It makes you realise how good Dr Feelgood were

When I read "band to keep the music of their people alive" I wasn't expecting the album to be such a banger. Good mix of blues and rock with traditional Mali music, plus an interesting backstory, make this an excellent album. Excited to check out more.

Excellent blues riffs and melodies. Didn’t understand a word but didn’t need to.

I dig most desert blues, and this one is no exception. Gonna have to dig into more of their albums and give them a listen too.

Exactly what this list is for, finding new music you never would have heard before

I started writing this at about half way through the listening while having breakfast and getting ready for a run and started thinking “this is nice but it might not be a regular listening” but by the time I reached Ai Tchere Bele, Songhoy Blues had captured me and then with the flip to the hypnotic rhythm of Wayei I was genuinely hooked and haven’t moved from the table yet. The slide into Petit Metier is wonderfully sublime and really does hold up to their style of desert blues and the drop in of the syncopated rhythm in the second half of the track is a wonderful surprise that really shows the bands skill and talent as musicians. I think this album probably gets down voted because people don’t understand the lyrics and sadly I couldn’t find them online as I’d love to understand Music in Exile from a lyrical perspective. 100% this will be in regular rotation in my collection now. The harmonies are haunting, the guitar lines are beautiful in the way they wind, the bands use of rounds to naturally craft layers in the way other artists might use loop pedals. Disappointed to see that I missed their U.K. tour for their new album by a few weeks and will be exploring the rest of their work. Didn’t expect to like this as much as I did, it makes me want to sway, it makes me want to dance. I think it’s expertly produced and balanced really well but you can’t do that without great music to start from. Solid 5/5 I favourited this and instantly downloaded it.

Okay I already knew going into this album that I would enjoy it but I did not realize how much I would. Every single song on the album finds its place and the story behind the music can be felt even though I could not understand the lyrics. Luckily I am already accustomed to non-English music so I did not find it challenging. Instead, the language barrier created a beautiful feeling in my soul knowing that I was able to connect with men I have never met, who I do not understand verbally. I felt their suffering but I also felt their fighting spirit. 9/10 rounded up to 5 stars.

Really enjoyed this one. I could not understand what they were saying, but does that really matter in music? Every song was fantastic.

Excellent

I really could listen to this all day. A little more bass-heavy than Ali Farka Touré, but just as hypnotic. (And when it was over Spotify gave me a song they did with Iggy Pop)

Excellent.

First listen to Songhoy Blues. Really dug the music. Didn't understand the lyrics due to the language barrier. Enjoyed this listen. This is something I do like about this list is the exposure to music that I may not otherwise would have heard about from around the world.

Now, this is a discovery, this is the music I want to dance on, despite the (probably? Couldn't find the lyrics) sombre message, or, likely, because of it. I think, I need to dig into desert blues now. Loved Soubour, Al Hassidi Terei and Desert Melody.

This was great. So glad to learn about this band.

Petit metier favorite song ✨

What is this absolute perfection? Have never heard of these guys and immediate referred them to several friends. What an album.

Outstanding

This album is the reason I love these challenges. This is awesome, combining african rhythms with RnB and getting something so fun for me to listen to. I didn't understand a single word, but I didn't care, I just wanted to dance. I'll be listening to this band frequently from now on, I'm really amazed by them. 5/5

Even though i cant understand the language. The guitar was enough to understand the music. Beautifully done.

Oh yeah that's what I'm here for. Who cares if I don't understand it? It's blues

Desert Jazz is so good

Here we go, THIS is what this list is for, who knows if I would have found this otherwise and it is GREAT.

Perfect.

This is what I'm talking about, I'm all in on these guys.

Outstanding album, absolutely brilliant. Get big Ali Farka Touré vibes from it. One of the best I’ve had in a while.

What a great album. As someone who is slightly familiar with this style of music, it was a pleasant surprise to listen to a great example of the genre. It’s so refreshing to my ears.

> the Beatles This rules

Awesome in every way. Why I'm here.

Yeahh thats what im talking about

I didn't understand a single word but I was dancing the whole time.

Never heard these guys before but I really enjoyed them! Their tiny desk concert is great too. Super talented dudes. Love the mix of genres. Heck, this album is almost an entire genre on its own. Very much unlike anything else I've heard.

funky town ale ne je to dobre africke hybeme sa ziadne nudne kapitalisticke anericke kokotiny co boli vcera ten paul simons nech ide domov do tekova.

Fucking class

Easily one of my favorite albums until now

Very interesting! 9.5/10

interesante propuesta y mezcla de sonidos, la historia de fondo es muy dura

Amazing band, amazing story, amazing set at Love Supreme, amazing album.

Amazing!

This is a jam. There's points where I wanna say this sounds like disco or Talking Heads and realize, oh yeah, other way around.

Absolutely love this, and had never heard it before — though I am familiar with MDou Moctar, whose style is similar. They call it desert blues, and I definitely hear the influence of Delta blues in their guitar stylings. Hell of a backstory, too. Really happy to discover this.

A truly incredible album. This is the first album in a while that I’ve listened to front to back multiple times. Setting the tone right out of the gate with Soubour and just continuing with great songs that all have their own depth and uniqueness to keep the entire album a must listen. From bluesy songs like Sekou oumarou and Nick (shoutout for that one) to songs like Wayei and Jolie that have more of an indie/surfer rock guitar sound to the acoustic Petit Metier this album has a little bit of everything. And even though I don’t know what they’re saying, the vocals and harmonies sound fantastic. Shout out to Alex for giving me the heads up to listen to this one. 5/5 for sure

Nice sounds. Great tunes. 5/5

Loved it

🥰!

Really impressed! Timbuktu Punk rocks! Also, why so few non english albums wth

Honestly this was fantastic. Incredible vocals

This is a cracking good album by a band forced from Timbuktu to Bamako and later to achieve global popularity. They kickstarted the Desert Blues as a genre

No idea what they’re saying, but loved the vibe and energy

Only thing more impressive than this music is the band’s backstory!

Awesome tunes

For not knowing really anything they are singing about SB really has some good stuff here. Probably my favorite intl record so far on this project.

The Songhoy Blues band formed in Timbuktu in 2012 after being forced to leave their homes in the north of Mali due to political and religious turmoil. The music they make is full of joy as well longing for the lives they left behind. The highlight is probably the final track Mali that needs no translation to break your heart. This is Afro Beat with a rock edge and an unexpected gem on this list.

Finally some non-Western music! A really interesting afrobeat album, with good guitar parts, pretty upbeat, well written. More of this, please!

Mali! Love it and gotta give lots of love to my African brethren

Awesome

Oh hell yeah. That's the stuff.

I can't say much, only that i loved this album <3 Its such a joy to listen to the tracks, all of them stick to me upon listing for the first time ! It feels like that i've known their music for a long time. I will defentily come back and listen to this album more often. Cheers

Great album, with great fusion of rock/blues sound, African rhytms and languge of Mali!

UGHHH! Another album where the notion of rating or reviewing just crumbles. My response to it couldn't be more trivial. From what I understand, I don't think I can even understand exactly what this music means. GROOVE IN THE FACE OF WAR! I literally can't imagine. A five star blessing just to be able to listen.

Lovely sounds; I enjoyed the general vibe of the album