Last summer for my UN trip to Kenya, I went to Rhapsody and loaded up on music. I know saying "African music" is as wooly as saying "American music," but I found that most of what I like was from various West African cultures. (Kenyan friends said the same thing.) For instance Toumani Diabate, from Mali, who comes from a line of 71 generations of kora players; or Guinean guitarist Alpha Yaya Diallo, who builds on his Manding traditions.
Then there was the Tuareg blues of Tinariwen, in which you can hear echoes (or origins) of everything from the Greatful Dead to Ali Farka Toure, but a soul all their own. They've been playing since the 80s, and one writer has described their music as a 25-year long jam session.
Still largely nomadic, the Tuareg are descended from the Berber culture of Saharan caravans. While they struggle to establish an independent homeland in Mali, many are refugees in Algiers and Libya. With a new album out, this morning the group was profiled on NPR as "Music's True Rebels." Guitarist Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni tells Scott Simon about the relationship between their music and politics:
I am not a politician…We are artists. And yet we live in a time where the Tuareg can't really make these separations as clearly as that. We have to be artists, politicians, nomads, businessmen, everything. I feel that our culture needs to have not necessarily a homeland, but a special consideration within the society. We don't want to just blend into the general population. Our culture is very distinct and must be able to preserve its distinct identity.
BTW, yes, I prefer Rhapsody (though I use iTunes for podcatching). For a subscription of $15 a month, I can listen to any track, album or artist and please and download anything to my player, a Sansa e280R. This has gotten me to explore a much wider variety of music than I ever would have thought I would enjoy.
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