Les Bateaux

Description

Fifty years ago, a drought struck the Sahel, forcing the inhabitants into a cruel famine, while also undermining the country’s agricultural economy. Les bateaux, the title of this album by the radiant genius of Sahelian folk-blues, depicts the villagers’ anxious waiting on the banks of the Niger River, the boats of international aid taking their time to deliver food to the inhabitants. Singing of hope that never gives up, praising the noble and charitable souls who put their lives at risk in the service of others, evoking the spirits of the collective memory of an entire people through vivid imagery, the former partner of ALI FARKA TOURÉ and AFEL BOCOUM recorded one of his most moving albums in Bamako and New York.