Oumou Sangare – Barbican, London

One of Africa’s finest female vocalists returns to the Barbican with songs from her Grammy-nominated album Seya. With support from Anibal Velasquez y Los Locos del Swing.

Salif Keita: La Difference Tour – London Live Review

Salif live is always special but normally you have to wait for the second half before it kicks off — but not tonight. Salif had the Barbican on its feet by the second song and never let them sit down

Salif Keita – Roundhouse, London (Live Review)

For such a highly polished musician with a legendary talent, Salif Keita’s gigs are surprisingly varied. On a bad night everything is muted, distant, by the numbers, but this was not a bad night, oh no, a bad night this was not…

The Festival in the Desert 2007 – Essakane, Mali

Quite possibly the most difficult festival to get to on earth, certainly the most fun, The Festival in the Desert is held at Essakane every January. Head for Timbuktu and when you have reached the middle of nowhere, keep going for a few more hours of treacherous driving up and down sand dunes and you […]

The Rough Guide to World Music: Africa & Middle East – Volume 1 of 3 (Book review)

Iconic, essential, quite possibly still a ‘work of lunatic scholarship’, The Rough Guide to World Music is back but what kind of shape is it in all these years later?

Salif Keita – M’Bemba

Moffou, his last album, was one of the most beautiful records ever made. Receiving its successor was like queuing up to see Taxi Driver II; how could it possibly live up to expectations?

Salif Keita Triumphs at The Barbican – Live

With a mix of songs from his new album M’Bemba and the much-loved Moffou, Salif Keita swept a sold-out Barbican along with a sensational performance

Baaba Maal – Voice of a Continent

Baaba Maal is Africa’s most important musician. He is unmatched in the most traditional or in the hippest of projects. He’s as highly regarded at home as he is abroad and he’s a tireless spokesperson for ordinary Africans. He gave Fly one of the few interviews he did during his recent visit to London

Mory Kante – The Reluctant World Star

He claims that making one of the biggest hits of recent times, ‘Yéké Yéké’, credited with blowing open the ethnic dance fusion flood gates, was the kind of happy accident that only the major record labels could conspire to do. All that is in the past though as we catch up with Mory Kante, modern-day […]