Lobi Traore - Bamako Nights: Live at Bar Bozo 1995 '2013

Tracks list

       Midline pricing. Bamako Nights captures the incendiary genius of Lobi
Traoré, a soulful singer/songwriter and blazing electric guitarist from Mali,
who died too young -- just 49 years old -- in 2010. Lobi produced five studio
albums during his career, as well as four live releases, including the solo
acoustic session Rainy Season Blues (Glitterhouse, 2010). But Bamako Nights
offers the deepest and most intimate record of this artist's astounding power
onstage in a small Bamako nightclub. In 1995, the Bar Bozo was a unique
destination. Mali's democracy was just a few years old, and people were finding
new ways to exercise freedom. The bar was an unglamorous downtown nightspot,
dark and often crowded. It didn't cater to elites, but working people, who came
to drink and dance and enjoy a live band long into the night. Lobi Traoré was
still emerging as a popular artist in Bamako. His earthy blend of Bambara roots
and edgy electric guitar, and his philosophical songs concerning social life and
the challenges rural people face in the city, were made-to-order for Bar Bozo.
No wonder he packed the place on a weekly basis -- Lobi had begun recording
albums by that time, and performing in Europe with an acoustic ensemble. But at
Bar Bozo, he and his small electric ensemble were developing a new, rawer sound,
one that would make Lobi a staple of Bamako's live scene, and a legend of
African blues celebrated around the world. You can hear in this smoldering
session Lobi's joy at having recently acquired a flanger pedal. His solos build
to soaring, ecstatic heights, as unhinged as anything in African rock since. The
set starts out slow and meditative with "Ni tugula mogo mi ko," conjuring a
trance atmosphere that Lobi elevates systematically with his keening vocal and
eloquent picking. You can almost feel the weight of a sweltering Bamako night as
Lobi forcefully guides his band though musical catharsis. By the time they kick
into high gear on "Sigui Nyongon son fo," the weight has lifted and spirits are
flying. It's hard to say enough about Lobi as a guitar stylist. His sound echoes
older Malian pentatonic guitarists, notably the iconic Zani Diabaté, whom
Lobi accompanied briefly. And there are clear rock echoes; Lobi was a fan of
AC/DC's Angus Young. But in the end, Lobi's guitar voice is his own --
unmistakable, deeply informed by tradition and graced with sparkling personal
epiphanies -- even with the flanger set to 110%. A few weeks after this
recording was made, Bamako authorities closed down the Bar Bozo, and Lobi had to
move his joyful party to an obscure venue on the outskirts of town. Bamako
Nights is a time capsule recording. It evokes an artist, a time, and a place
that came together with amazing potency, and can never be recreated.	



Tracklist:
1 01. Lobi Traore - Ni tugula mogo mi ko (Live) (09:00)
1 02. Lobi Traore - Banani (Live) (08:33)
1 03. Lobi Traore - Dunuya (Live) (08:10)
1 04. Lobi Traore - Sigui Nyongon son fo (Live) (04:54)
1 05. Lobi Traore - Ne Kele Kanuba (Live) (05:52)
1 06. Lobi Traore - Dibi (Live) (05:16)
1 07. Lobi Traore - Bamaku N'tichi (Live) (08:51) 

Related artists