“The show at Green Man last summer was one of our favourite gigs ever,” explain Malian desert blues band Songhoy Blues when asked about their 2015 debut at Greenman Festival. “The crowd were so welcoming and energetic and we really feed on that, we love to make people dance so don’t expect to stand still! We’re working on music for our new record at the moment so there might be a few new tracks too.”
Songhoy Blues previously escaped from harsh conflict in the north of Mali, where music making was made an illegal act by Islamist militants until 2013. “We left our homes in the North because we knew that we couldn’t live without music. Touring the world has been incredible but whilst we’re sleeping in hotels, our friends and family aren’t so lucky.”
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How, then, do they feel about the importance of music in times like today? “Whether it’s blues, punk or dance music, music has always helped people to express their dissatisfaction with the status quo. We look around us today – the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, the debate in the UK over the EU, conflict in the Middle East – I think amongst that, music is incredibly important as a mouth-piece for people to speak their minds or to protest in a peaceful way.
“Our experiences living in Mali during the conflict there really brought home how lucky we were to be able to make music at all. It’s not something that you ever expect to be prohibited. We hope that as a result our music is just joyful and if that comes across as an expression of hypnotic freedom then great!”
Songhoy Blues are currently working on their second album, with plans to record later this year. “This one will be more ambitious in terms of bringing together a lot of other styles that we’ve always loved but perhaps weren’t able to express on the first album.
“We love music from around the world: American blues, hip-hop, reggae. But our first love will always be the grooves and hypnotising riffs in Malian music. It’s the music that’s most natural for us to make.”
NATALIE POWELL
Songhoy Blues, Green Man Festival, Brecon, Thurs 18 – Sun 21 Aug. Tickets: £75. Info: www.greenman.net