Black History Month | Samba Touré Brings Us His Sahel Blues

Interview by Sandra Gasana
Genres and styles : Africa / Mandingo Blues / Saharan Blues

Additional Information

To close Black History Month, Malian blues guitarist Samba Touré will be making a stop in Montreal for an evening to present his latest opus, “Baarakalew”, released in January 2025. In this album, he gives a voice to the voiceless, bringing them out of the shadows. Whether it’s tailors, welders or water vendors, he pays tribute to them through his music, failing to create a foundation in their name. The man who traces the origins of the Blues back to Africa compares it to “Weltaré”, a way of singing one’s pain when words fail to express it. He’ll be at Club Balattou on February 28, in a trio format with himself on guitar, a calabash player and another musician playing either the ngoni, a West African traiditional guitar, or the tamani, a percussion instrument originally from West Africa, depending on the track. A “dangerous trio”, as Samba Touré so aptly puts it. Our journalist Sandra Gasana spoke to him just a few days before the eagerly-awaited Montreal concert.

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