Taj Mahal & Toumani Diabaté.
"Queen Bee," a song with bluesy lovesick lyrics and the rich sounds of Mali.
Listen and download here at Savefile.
As far as categorical titles go, "world music" is probably one of the worst. It implies that everything that doesn't hail from the West belongs in one huge category, when everything actually seems to influence each other (think of Vampire Weekend constantly being referred to as "Afro-pop" - the picture above is from afropop.org!). This song by Taj Mahal, Ramata Diakité and Toumani Diabaté is a beautiful example of a fusion of the music of Mali and the blues. I found this little gem on a buried-away CD called "One World, Many Cultures." The inside slip informs me that Taj Mahal feels "the music of Mali shares a strong musical connection to the blues." So in 1999, he formed a trio with these two Malians, one of whom has a gorgeous voice (Diakité); the other, Diabaté, is a kora player.
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