Electrified sessions of takamba, the ghostly drone from Northern Mali. Staccato calabash percussion carry shredding traditional guitar. Improvised praise for Yehia the holy man by masters Super Onze, recorded in the early 90s. Distortion and fuzz from pickups and tape hiss reveal the soundscape of the Northern dusty villages – where takamba blares from radios, boomboxes, and old cassette tapes.

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Not far from the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu, now ruled by the religious fundamentalists, proud cattle herder Kidane lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima, his daughter Toya, and Issan, their twelve-year-old shepherd. In town, the people suffer, powerless, from the regime of terror imposed by the Jihadists determined to control their faith. Music, laughter, cigarettes, even soccer have been banned. The women have become shadows but resist with dignity. Every day, the new improvised courts issue tragic and absurd sentences. Kidane and his family are being spared the chaos that prevails in Timbuktu. But their destiny changes abruptly. More info.

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Contemporary pop music from the Sahara desert, where songs are stored on cellphones. Collected in Northern Mali in 2010 (since taken over by extremists who’ve banned music on cellphones) the second volume expands into new sonic territory – from dreamy Niger guitar ballads, Bamako club juke, to hi energy Moroccan child Raï – with a focus on the Autotuned DIY creations circulating the desert.

Get the vinyl here.