Update [5/10/2008]: Good timing. Good ink for Mali music in the NY Times, an article on Festival au Desert, held each January in the remote African city of Essakane, Mali.
Hat tip to my friend Scott for pointing me to this group. They played at our local Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival up the road in Trumansburg. From Wikipedia:
… a musical band formed in 1982 in Muammar al-Gaddafi’s camps of Tuareg rebels. They play in the Tishoumaren (“music of the unemployed”) style, and sing mostly in the French and Tamashek languages. Their songs mostly cover the subject of independence for their people from the government of Mali. They are said to be the first Tuareg band to use electric guitars.
Chet Boghassa with lots of footage from Mali. Live version.
Interesting pairing with Carlos Santana:
