Afrique Victime CD

Mdou Moctar builds everything around his touring band and a do-it-yourself ethic that refuses to let Afrique Victime sit still: nine tracks, about forty-one minutes, guitar work searing hard enough to drag noise and field recordings into the same room as Saharan tradition and rock. The songs hit love, religion, women’s rights, and the long colonial exploitation of West Africa without softening any of it. Released on Matador, it builds directly on Sousoume Tamachek and pushes straight into what became Funeral for Justice.