Sons of Mali, musical refugees, groundbreaking artists, virtuoso performers, survivors. Unforgettable & undeniable. Songhoy Blues are the future of African rock n’ roll. Steeped in the deep traditions of classic Malian music & desert blues fused with a youthful & super-charged sound of today, these 4 young men from Timbuktu continue marching, playing & dancing their way into the hearts & minds of music fans everywhere with their electric, eclectic & kinetic songs.
The band’s sophomore album, 2017’s critically-acclaimed RESISTANCE, solidified them as a group to watch, and they’ve followed it up with consistent live touring on 5 continents, helping to make them a force to reckon with. 2019 sees the release of their new album and expectations are high, for good reason – Songhoy Blues make music that is unique, exciting, contagious & paradigm-shifting. The band already counts such luminaries as Nile Rodgers, Gary Clark Jr., Run the Jewels, Iggy Pop, Nick Zinner, Matt Sweeney & Will Oldham as fans, and are poised to put their musical footprint down for years to come.
Songhoy Blues will be supporting their new album with live dates across North America this fall. Most recently, the band completed a sold out run of UK dates, recorded a live session for BBC 6 Music; filmed an episode of the new UK TV show Noughts & Crosses in South Africa (where they’re featured performing in one of the main scenes); are featured in a new photography exhibit called ‘My Rockstars’ by Hassan Hajjaj at La Maison Europeenne de la Photographie in Paris; and will be collaborating with UK artist Andy Morgan on a multimedia exhibition called ‘Music & Conflict’ at the Imperial War Museum, which debuts June 2019.
The band are also proud spokespersons for the charity WaterAID, and have helped to raise money & awareness toward providing relief in their native Mali. They will be appearing in an upcoming documentary on climate change in the Sahara; and were featured in the award-winning documentary They Will Have to Kill Us First, about the plight of musicians in war-torn Mali (www.theywillhavetokillusfirst.com).
