Back in the '60s, African music star Boubacar Traoré was the first to play Mandingo-based (indigenous blues) music on electric guitar, long before his junior, Ali Farka Touré. His unique, self-taught technique owes much to his kora influences, but also suggests the great black bluesmen of the American deep South. His latest album is 'Mali Denhou' (Lusafrica) and he is joined here on the first of two rare club dates by percussionist Losseni Kone and fabulous, harmonica player Vincent Bucher. In support, guitarist, harmonica player and singer Muntu Valdo, whose blues-based music mixes African traditions with a striking modernity that's expressed in his use of loops, samples and effects.
