Sahel

Album review

In the five years since 2018's Deran, Tuareg singer/guitarist Bombino became the first artist from Niger to earn a Grammy nomination. He followed it with the 2020 concert album Live in Amsterdam, further emphasizing the West's fascination with his music. The admiration is mutual; Bombino's fiery desert blues approach takes plenty of cues from rock & roll. On Sahel, his emotional seventh album, he deepens this amalgam with deeply personal songs, recorded in Casablanca by Welsh producer David Wrench (Frank Ocean, Goldfrapp). Named for the wide and diverse belt of land spanning the width of North Africa, Sahel is an album of extremes with scintillating rockers and hypnotic guitar work sharing the stage with stripped-down acoustic ballads. Bombino is also more outspoken here, rallying for unity among the Tuareg people on the vivid, psych-influenced "Aitma." Amid the more rousing and motivational songs, he laments loss in myriad ways: loss of freedom, loss of culture, lost loves. Over the quiet lope of acoustic guitar and finger snaps, Bombino sounds brokenhearted on the moody "Ayo Nigla," which, along with the similarly toned closer "Mes Amis," expresses unrequited love. Like the region of its namesake, Sahel contains multitudes. It is complex, cathartic, celebratory, and at times sad, but always burning with the spark of Bombino's innate talent.
© Timothy Monger /TiVo