Artists

[[[STOP PRESS +Bassekou gets great review at Festival in the Desert:

"The band and the singers are all enthusiastic, jolly performers, and Kouyate's groove gets most of the audience on their feet and chanting"

Rosie Swash, Guardian Unlimited http://music.guardian.co.uk/desert2008/story/0,,2239799,00.html

Other stories:

Segu Blue gets BBC World Music Award Album of the Year read more

For women, singing can be the road to personal power. When their voice is as strong as Malian vocalist Khaira Arby's, that power can move mountains, change minds, and win battles. Arby's rich, potent sound aims to do just that, shifting seamlessly between the edgy and progressive and the traditional read more

A prolific musician, Oumar Konaté is emerging as a leading young African guitar master and on track to become one of the new legends of singer-songwriters from Mali.

Konaté performs constantly at festivals, clubs and private parties. He has accompanied many Malian artists on their concerts and recordings: Vieux read more

Sahra Halgan sings with a clear, uplifting voice in the traditional Somali style, which bears much in common with the music of Sudan and the Arabian peninsula. It is often accompanied only by handclaps, although for the last several years Halgan has been touring with French musicians Aymeric Krol read more

Thaïs Diarra is a nu-soul singer with roots in Mali and Senegal. She was born in Switzerland, to a music-loving mother and a bass-playing father. Since Thaïs’ early years, music was a refuge, a moral recourse to the racial prejudgement and questions about her mixed race identity. In her read more