During an overland trip from Dakar to Ouagadougou a couple years ago I stopped in Kayes, Mali, for the night. I managed to get pretty much the last room available in town at an old railway hotel. While smoking a cigarette on the roof with an Ivoirian cosmetics dealer I’d met on the trip, this wonderful Malian blues erupted in the courtyard bar below. There were maybe three people in the bar listening to the concert, all completely pissed, but the band didn’t care. They played an hour set of slow Malian blues-rock for me, my Ivoirian friend and the three drunk guys. I’ve been a Malian music addict ever since.

Djelimady Tounkara, the “guitar hero of modern Malian music,” is my favourite Malian musician. Born into a griot family (a sort of caste of traditional entertainers) he was surrounded by musicians his whole life. In the 70s he joined the famous Super Rail Band and has been playing with them ever since.

His latest solo album Sigui, really impressed me. So much so that when I bought my last stereo I christened it with today’s selection. It’s a little more traditional than the modern Malian blues you might be used to from people like Ali Farka Toure, but it’s great.

Djelimady Tounkara – Mande Djeliou