Songhoy Blues is one of the most outstanding and surprising desert blues bands around today. Refugees from northern Mali and now based in Bamako, they pay musical tribute to the ancient Songhoy traditions. And now, they finally bring their masterful new take on the desert blues sound to GROUNDS!

Charismatic, articulate and creative, the band burst onto the scene in 2013 with a powerful style and stage manner once described as “Timbuktu Punk”. Their songs deal with issues of life and love in Mali. And are based on five-note scales, rock rhythms, gritty vocals, and glittering guitar. These elements are ever present in their new album Héritage, but with a more intimate groove laced with other sounds from different ethnic traditions from around the country. Migration and forced displacement bring new perspectives to the notion of heritage in their music.

The album presents new compositions and reworkings of old classics. Infused with the ethereal sounds of various traditional instruments, all in the hands of great Malian masters: kora, soku, kamalengoni, flute, Senufo xylophone, and calabash percussion. And unexpectedly, a steel guitar wanders in, sounding eerily like the voice of the desert. So Songhoy Blues is an absolute must-see for fans of energetic blues rock with a West African groove!