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Thedesert land of Maliand the southern Sahara has nurturedremarkable music in recent years, especially from the band called Tinariwen. Inmuch the same way, Malian singer Khaira Arby combines bluesy electric guitargrooves with the percussive syncopation of the scraper and the calabash alongwith the call and response that is the ancestor of African-American spirituals.Her voice is a powerful emotional surge rising from the cresting waves of herhypnotic backing musicians and chorus. Much of the music is deeply rooted inthe nomadic traditions of the desert; subtract the electric guitars and Arby isback in centuries past, dancing around the flickering campfire under a starrynight.
