A much lauded album of recent months that I haven't got round to writing about as of yet. Mdou Moctar's rides the desert dunes on Afrique Victime, with much the same graceful ease and purpose as recent albums from Tuareg contemporaries Tinariwen.
Aided by a fabulous band, Moctar leads from the front with impossibly fluid guitar lead. This music is both celebratory and troubled. Based in Agadez, Niger, the record tells the story of his people. The voice of the dispossessed.
Underpinned by a fabulously realised rhythm of harmonies and melodic patterns, you somehow don't need to understand the lyrics to follow its message of sorrow and joy.
Best experienced at a single sitting, the ghost of Hendrix can be heard in the grooves of Afrique Victime. By turns thrilling and deeply moving. A mighty record from a mighty band.
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