Afel Bocoum is among the last of a breakthrough generation of African musicians who were the first to cross-pollinate their own traditional music with the new sounds that arrived from all over the world throughout the 20th century. Hailing from Niafunké in the Timbuktu region of Mali, an area that straddles the cultural riches and political tensions between the northern and southern areas of the country, Bocoum spent decades touring and recording with desert blues pioneer Ali Farka Touré. His debut album ‘Alkibar’ (1999, World Circuit) propelled him to international recognition, leading him to work with Damon Albarn & Toumani Diabaté on 2002’s Mali Music, as well as contributing regularly to the famed Africa Express projects, and collaborating with Béla Fleck, Habib Koité, Tartit Ensemble, and Bassekou Kouyaté among others. His last album, Lindé, released in 2020, is named after the wild expanse near his hometown that he spent his childhood exploring, is a remarkable blend of deep tradition and audacious innovation. With the support of executive producers Damon Albarn & Nick Gold, Lindé stitches together the age-old music of the Niger bend, featuring performances from eminent musicians like Tony Allen, Vin Gordon, and Madou Diabaté. Bocoum’s music rolls and rocks, graceful, unforced and minimal by design, and his message – in the face of an uncertain and turbulent world, and a homeland struggling with jihad, poverty and tribal war, urges hope, solidarity and unity. “We have to meet each other, talk to each other, look each other in the eye and tell the truth,” Afel says. “Our social security is music. That’s all we’ve got left. People love music, so we have to make use of that fact.”