VARIOUS

There was a time when Malian musicians had to travel abroad to record, but Studio Bogolan changed that. Hidden away behind blue gates in Bamako, it has attracted all of the country's great stars, as well as foreign celebrities. This 28-track compilation from the studio includes tracks by everyone from Tinariwen, Amadou and Mariam and Rokia Traoré to Salif Keita, singing on a glorious 2002 collaboration with Africando. The legendary Ali Farka Touré, who helped to support the studio, features several times – on one of his final recordings, Erdi, supporting that fine singer Idrissa Soumaoro on a rolling African blues, and on Kaira, from his classic collaboration with Toumani Diabaté, In the Heart of the Moon. Then there's Björk, backed by Toumani's kora on her gently urgent ballad Hope, from 2007, and Damon Albarn with the gloriously atmospheric Sunset Coming On, from his early African adventures in 2002. An impressive, historic set.

(tekst: http://www.theguardian.com/)