Album: Boubacar Traore, Mali Denhou (Lusafrica)

When Malian bluesmen discovered the bluesmen of America's deep South, Traore's art was one of the results. Acclaimed at 20 as Mali's answer to Elvis Presley, he had dizzy fame followed by political exile, and was only put back on his pedestal after being rediscovered in Paris as part of the army of migrant workers. This new album is vintage stuff: his voice mixes warmth with a genial toughness, while his guitar is backed by the expressive harp of Vincent Bucher.