Soubour

We say

Songhoy Blues are a four-piece indie band from Timbuktu in the desert north of Mali, which until recently was occupied by Islamist militants who banned secular music, forcing musicians to flee as refugees to Bamako in the south in order to keep playing. Produced by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Soubour was recorded there as part of the Maison Des Jeunes project, a series of musical collaborations organised by Daman Albarn's Africa Express - founded in Mali six years previously - and named after the youth club on the banks of the Niger in which the weeklong album recording took place. Maison Des Jeunes aims to shine a light on Malian music while providing a boost to the industry there, with all profits from the album being returned to support music projects in the country. Zane Lowe, Gilles Peterson, Steve Lamacq, Gemma Cairney and others have played tracks from it, while press runs the gamut from Pitchfork via the Guardian to the Sun. An album launch on December 9 brings Songhoy Blues to the UK for the first time, with a Q&A with Damon Albarn and Brian Eno, and the premiere of The Africa Express, the film about last year's train journey around the UK.

Album launch: Oval Space, Hackney, December 9

Contact

Label: Lilas Bourboulon, Transgressive
Publishing: Africa Express
Radio/TV: Mig Morland, Cool Badge
Online: Joe Oteng, RMP
Press: Bridin Murphy Mitchell, RMP
Live: Jason Walsh, Musicians Incorporated
Management: Stephen Budd, Stephen Budd Management