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Songhay Blues

1. Songhoy Blues: One of Rolling Stone’s “10 New Artists You Need to Know: May 2015”

1. Sounds Like: A churning, loose-limbed garage-rock take on traditional Malian music

2. For Fans of: Tinariwen, the Black Keys, Amadou & Mariam

3. Why You Should Pay Attention: The group half-joke that they'd never have started a band if three of them hadn't been driven out of their northern Mali hometowns by militant jihadists vehemently opposed to non-religious music. "It's not safe at all to play music," Garba Touré says. "It's quite dangerous."

4. They Say: "The world has known our country as Mali since independence in 1959," says Touré. "Before that, the Songhai empire extended across Mali, from north to south and east to west. That empire included many different ethnicities, and the Songhai musical tradition includes many different things. We take different parts of that tradition, rhythmically and melodically, and play them on modern instruments like the drum set and electric guitar. But it all comes from traditional Songhai music."

5. Hear for Yourself: "Al Hassidi Terei" (official video - 4 min) is a grooving critique of selfishness.