Tramshed, Cardiff
Sat 23 Sept
Forced from his native Timbuktu by a jihadist group who banned the most important elements of rock’n’roll, namely cigarettes, alcohol and music, guitarist Garba Touré relocated to Mali’s capital Bamako in 2012 and along with fellow (but unrelated) Tourés Allou and Ouma formed Songhoy Blues, purveyors of the finest desert blues.
The band plied their trade in the clubs of Bamako, amassing a fanbase of both Songhai and Tuareg followers – no mean feat given the hostility between the two peoples – and were eventually ‘discovered’ by the African Express tour, led by Malian music fan Damon Albarn. This led to their first recording Soubour, in conjunction with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, prior to their first long-play release, 2015’s Music In Exile.
Their visit to Cardiff, their first in Wales outside of the Green Man Festival, comes as part of an adventurous month-long pre-amble by Swn Festival (in the runup to the much-anticipated Swn Discovery Day on Sat 21 Oct), which also features shows from The Skints and The Amazons amongst others. Songhoy Blues’ past outings at Green Man in 2015 and 2016 have seen them build up a loyal and appreciative fanbase: this appearance at Tramshed could now be considered somewhat intimate, given their meteoric rise over the past half a decade.
The band have expanded their sound somewhat since their Bamako residency and their new album Resistance (released by Transgressive) aims to increase their following even further, encompassing as it does a whole new arsenal of instrumentation, styles and collaborations. Recent ska-lite teaser Mali Nord features London grimer Elf Kid and there are also appearances from Stealing Sheep and collaborator-for-hire Iggy Pop, who gives a valuable culture lesson on the bluesy Sahara (“there ain’t no pizza … no Kentucky Fried Chicken”). What looks like a mish-mash of styles on paper works surprisingly well on record and even more so during their electric live setup. Songhoy Blues are a younger, punchier and punkier version of their fellow countrymen Tinariwen (who graced the Tramshed stage to huge acclaim earlier in 2017) and attendees are well-advised to don their dancing shoes.
Tickets: £15. Info: 029 2023 5555
words BEN GALLIVAN