Songhoy Blues

Songhoy Blues is a four-piece desert blues band from Mali, founded in 2012 by Oumar Touré, Aliou Touré and Garba Touré. The group emerged from political anger and personal experiences; when a jihadist group drove them from their hometowns in northern Mali, they found in music a way to tell their story. With their energetic live shows and albums such as 2015’s ‘Music in Exile’ and the rawer, rock-oriented ‘Optimisme’ from 2020, the band captures the spirit of northern Mali and brings it to the stage.

Following the arrival of drummer Nathanael Dembele, Songhoy Blues became a fixture on Bamako’s live music scene, after which international stages followed. On their latest album ‘Héritage’ from 2025, recorded in Bamako, the band returns to traditional instruments such as the kora, the soku and the kamalengoni. The result is a layered mix of original material and adaptations of compositions by Malian groups such as Orchestre Kanaga de Mopti.