Artists and programme
Bombino (Niger)
Bombino’s ecstatically ragged electric parts alternate with the acoustic parts so delicately reflective and luminescent that they feel like stargazing. It is amazing how the guitar becomes alive in the hands of the tuareg artist: the tone, alternately strident and melancholic, poetic and acrobatic and sometimes almost witty, is suffused with a point of view: longing and hope in a tug-of-war. He is a virtuoso, there is no doubt, but the technique isn’t what you notice about it: what you notice is the feeling. It is said that the desert blues is as much a feeling as it is a distinct musical style and indeed, Bombino sings in Tamasheq but you don’t need a translation to understand what he is singing about.
Goumour Almoctar (Bombino) - vocals, guitar
Djakrave Dia - bass guitar
Corey Wilhelm – drums, percussioon
Illias Mohamed - guitar, calabash
