In desert blues, Jimi
Hendrix mixes with
indigenous music

Everywhere you turn these days, it seems that the indie rock world is exploring sounds out of Africa - the ancestral home of American genres like jazz and the blues.

In terms of geography, the African groups that are beginning to be heard in the United States include a handful from countries like South Africa, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Rwanda. But the focal point of the labels’ interest is clearly Mali.

A landlocked nation in sub-Saharan West Africa with a population of only 14.5 million, less than one-tenth that of Nigeria, it has gained a reputation as a musical powerhouse. Jon Kertzer, an ethnomusicologist who oversees the Next Ambiance label for the indie record company Sub Pop , even wrote a paper titled “Good Golly, Why Mali?”

One answer might be the country’s long history as a crossroads for nomadic peoples, which has resulted in an unusual blend of cultures and musical styles: Bambara, Songhai, Mandinka, Arab and Tuareg, among others. It also helps that the music of Mali is based on a strong tradition of stringed instruments, like the harplike kora and the ngoni, believed to be an ancestor of the banjo, both of which sound reassuringly familiar to Western ears raised on guitar music.

“It’s totally logical that the entree point should be an instrument you can recognize,” said Bettina Richards, the founder of Thrill Jockey, whose African acts also include Extra Golden, an electric rock-based quartet that consists of two Americans and two Kenyans.

Ms. Richards said she sees parallels between an artist like Sidi Toure and her indie rock groups, including Tortoise. “Sidi is interested in taking traditional Songhai styles and making them contemporary, a hybrid,” she said.

Labels like Nonesuch began issuing compilations of African music as early as the 1960s. But executives at indie labels, bloggers and African music fans often date the start of the current boomlet to 1997, when the French label Buda Musique began reissuing what has become known as the Ethiopiques series, which now consists of more than 20 CDs of music from Ethiopia and Eritrea. “

Ethiopiques was huge, very influential, transformational even,” said Jonathan Poneman, a founder of Sub Pop. “Not only was it great stuff, but it was put out in a way that was high quality, that looked good and was engaging. ”

Then, early in the last decade, Mali’s Tinariwen emerged, literally, out of the desert, gathering attention when it began performing at festivals like Peter Gabriel’s Womad in Britain. As members of the Sahara’s nomadic people, the band’s members had moved around Mali, Algeria and Libya, absorbing not only the influence of Arab and Berber music but also Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, forging a powerful, guitar-driven style marketed as “desert blues.”

Curiosity about African music may also be driven by the recent popularity of American bands like Dirty Projectors and especially Vampire Weekend, both of which began as projects of Ivy League students and have embraced African music and incorporated its rhythms and voicings. In Britain a similar process began even earlier: Damon Albarn released the “Mali Music” CD nearly a decade ago .

Just as Bob Marley became a symbol of third world authenticity when he first appeared in the 1970s, many in the current wave of African artists seem to be drawing credibility and legitimacy from their hardscrabble experiences. Both Tinariwen and the reggaeinflected Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars emerged from exile and refugee camps, while the Good Ones are survivors of the Rwandan genocide and Blk Jks come from Johannesburg’s gritty Soweto area.

In the past, African artists have complained about their music being packaged as “exotic,” and having their creative rights usurped by European and American record companies, studios and management companies. But indie labels seem aware of these concerns. In addition, the current generation of artists is more savvy and plugged in than its predecessors.

The heads of the indie labels that have placed their modest bets on African music also point to globalization and the Internet, which transformed what was once distant into something as close as a click .

“There are all kinds of listeners in the world, and many of them have access to all kinds of music,” Mr. Poneman said.


By LARRY ROHTER