That guy from Mogwai made me buy this. I was reading one of those cultural highlights articles with Stuart Braithwaite and he mentioned a track from Music From Saharan Cellphones, I thought it sounded interesting and … the LP mysteriously appeared at my front door a couple of weeks later; funny how that happens.
Released in 2011 on the Sahel Sounds label Music From Saharan Cellphones is actually a compilation of tracks from two cassette only earlier releases, limited to 2000 copies on vinyl.
The whole premise of the release is pretty much there for you in the title. The liner notes by Christopher Kirkley are excellent. Essentially when in Kidal, Mali, an important city on the Trans-Saharan highway, he noticed the omnipresence of music blaring on phones, people swapping MP3s via Bluetooth constantly. In a trade city with all the travellers and itinerants that generates, the range and origins of the music was staggering – most of it, never professionally released. The music leans towards the twin poles of desert guitar and hip-hop, but anything is game in this model of distribution, shorn of record company and commercial interests.
The music is a glorious hotchpotch, a melding of old and new – traditional Malian dances vie with Tuareg guitar anthems, local hip-hop, local synth music with autotuned vocals and everything in-between. He harvested the best and/or most ubiquitous of it and served it up to us here.
I don’t profess to love all 9 tracks on Music From Saharan Cellphones* but here are my highlights:
- Group Anmataff – ‘Tinariwen’. Not about the desert blues legends themselves but a group of young Tuareg musicians with a drum machine, making their own stab for immortality with their demo. Love the hypnotic glide of this.
- Yeli Fuzzo – ‘Abandé’. A Malian Jay-Z? rapper, record company and clothing line owner. Some more traditional sounds underlying his slick hip-hop here.
- Amanar – ‘Alghafiat’. Gloriously understated stately guitar epic. Kidal natives, I really like the more modern vocal stylings here.
- Kaba Blon – ‘Moribiyassa’. Electronic production merging with traditional Malian dance, high energy stuff.
- Bayta Ag Bay – ‘Aicha’. Wonderfully poignant-sounding song to an ex-girlfriend. The guitaring here is superb, I just can’t get enough of this one.
Music From Saharan Cellphones is a supremely well put together and thought provoking LP. It gives old farts like me a welcome kick up the vent for supposing that music from this region is permanently locked like a fly in amber as that desert blues I love so much. I am equally foot-worthy for not supposing that the young always crave, create and curate their own sounds, forged in their own influences.
As the liner notes, from eight years ago, poignantly say increased internet linkage in the area will probably ensure that ‘Music from Saharan Cellphones may well be, if it is not already, a thing of the past’.
1031 Down.
PS: Because we deserve it:
*blooming American record label, surely it should be called Music On Malian Mobiles?
You always take great photos of your LPs.
Fascinating back story. Can see how you were hooked.
Always expanding CB’s over loaded cranium.
I loved Mdou Moctar’s last record – I need to check out some of the other artists.
Saying “It gives old farts like me a welcome kick up the vent” is a term not used enough in society. On a serious note, this was a great read on how they trade music. I never knew this…