New Music From Mali

By Marc Bruner

There’s a great new record label for all you African music fans out there. It’s called KSK and it’s devoted to the promotion and preservation of traditional West African music. There are only eight CDs so far, but, as they say, quality is more important than quantity.

The music is uniformly superb. The highlights include an awesome acoustic CD from Malian blues great Lobi Taore; gorgeous kora music from Madou Sidike Diabate -- "the best solo kora album to date," according to his older brother, Grammy-Award winner Toumani Diabate; and a soulful and rootsy set of n’goni music from virtuoso Adama Couloubally.


Hey, but that’s just my opinion. Which one is the best of the bunch? Give these great CDs a listen and let us know you your thoughts! And let’s hope they keep the music flowing at KSK.