Music in Exile

Outstanding album, absolutely brilliant. Get big Ali Farka Touré vibes from it. One of the best I’ve had in a while.

The guitar work on here was unique and interesting. I enjoyed the music but am not generally a fan of group vocals which is most of this album.

Ok, so I liked this album, but I'm going to show my Western bias and not rate it higher than a 3 simply because I don't know what they're saying and can't connect with the music. But, it sounds good, the musicianship is excellent, and I appreciate having heard it. Nice bluesy African stylings and I like the guitar lines. I wouldn't mind hearing it again, but doubt I'd dig deeper into it. Songs that caught my attention: the first three tracks were pretty compelling, particularly on close listen - Soubor, Irganda, and Al Hassidi Terei. But then I kind of drifted. Ai Tchere Bele caught my attention on every listen, and then I found I liked the remaining tracks. 3 feels lazy, but that's what I'm going with.

Very enjoyable, ridiculously fun guitar :) It was different, and a nice listen. :) I'm teetering on 4 and 5 stars, I'll go 4, but this is really good music and a 5 for someone else I bet :)

The music and backstory are equally interesting.

4/5

As a linguist, I like this a lot, because - quote from the band - "We always try to sing in as many languages as possible. The languages we speak every day are Songhoy, Bambara, French, and English." How many Songhoy language albums are on this list? I bet not a lot! (Although maybe I'm wrong, since I never would have predicted this one, either.)

As a non-linguistic listening experience, it's chill & pleasant, but nothing that'll stick with me (even though the band's story is obviously compelling). A 3 with a side of respect.

Highlights: 'Irganda', "Petit Metier' , 'Desert Melodie'

I have never met an African album I didn't like, and this is no exception. Fantastic guitar work and mesmerizing layers of rhythm. I'll definitely listen to this again. I just wish I had a translation. Sad to hear about the suffering in Mali, but this is a good way to educate a privileged westerner like me. I hope they have a lot more success.

The genre was nice. I got a bit fatigued towards the end - It lost some pacing and it became less interesting to hear.

Really good Blues. Hard to judge lyrics when I can’t understand the language.

cool sound, a genre I should listen to more

Freu mich immer World Music aus anderen Ländern zu bekommen.
Hat mir besser gefallen als z.B: Africá Brasil. Wollte erst 3 Sterne geben, aber ich glaub 4 ist machbar. Würds mir aber nicht nochmal anhören.
Songs der Playlist hinzugefügt: Keine

i was expecting a global rating slightly lower, not bad not remarkable imo

Surprisingly very good album - big props

The great thing about this project is discovering music that I would never have the opportunity to listen to otherwise. Great album

Loved this one when it was new, and again now. Fantastic groove all the way through. Great backstory, too.

Better than you'd expect

I listened to the first two tracks on the album. There were interesting melodies in them, but it became too African for me. I therefore stopped listening further.
2/5

Very moving background to the origin of this album. It was made to keep the music of northern Mali alive during a time when an extremist group banned music in that area. It’s an interesting listen, but without being able to understand the lyrics it eventually all started sounding too similar to my ears. I know that’s a me problem not a them problem, but I can only rate it for myself.

Kinda decent in a “World Music” sort of way.

It's fine but the words mean so much in a song that when I can't understand them then I don't really like the song. 2.48.