The Third Case This Year of the Desert Passage

The Desert Passage is one of my favorite genres to share. This is music from West Africa and from communities living in the southern fringes of the vast Sahara Desert; modern day Mali, Guinea, Madagascar, Algeria, and Burkina Faso on today's show.

Music here traces its historical roots back hundreds of years before the Colonial Era. In this time there was no written language in these communities, so they preserved their history and knowledge in the form of songs that were meticulously memorized by successive generations. 

These communities often had a social caste for the musicians who preserved this tribal knowledge:  griots (pronounced gree-ohs). It is a complex social phenomenon; on the one hand, these musicians and singers were revered as keepers of sacred knowledge. On the other hand, since they had learned music rather than hunting or farming, they were effectively reduced to the status of beggars in their communities. 

My set today will feature several tracks from my favorite band in this genre, the mighty Rail Band of Mali. An admission: today I am breaking down and playing some tracks from CD compilations (rather than vinyl source). As you know, I love to share the vinyl sound... but the source records for these tracks are just too rare and expensive, they have eluded my grasp!

One other note of interest: it would be hard to do a Desert Passage set without acknowledging some of the fine music recorded and reissued by local Portland music lovers Mississippi Records, Sahel Sounds, and Little Axe Records. Today I'm featuring music from the recently issued Afous D'Afous LP "Tenere" on the Sahel Sounds label.

Ancient and majestic sounds from Africa on today's Adventures.