Sidi Touré & Friends

Sidi Touré & Friends

Recorded in Mali in 2009 and released in January on Chicago intelligentsia indie Thrill Jockey, Sahel Folk preserves stilling rural blues from the former Songhaï empire. Descended from the kings of the region, Sidi Touré, not unlike regional innovator Ali Farka Touré, boasts liquid picking and plucking in this series of duets cut at his sister's home. "Sïnji" ("A Beautiful Woman") and tender lament "Wayey Zarrabo" ("Women Tiredness") glint the crystalline fragility of this meditative prayer.