Afel Bocoum

Afel Bocoum is a singer, composer, and guitar player from Niafunké, a town in northern Mali famous for its ‘desert blues’. He has a multi-ethnic background and sings in three local languages: Sonrai, Fulfuldé, and Tamashek.

Trained as an agricultural advisor, Bocoum absorbed the music his father played on the one-string fiddle (njarka) and small lute (njurkel) in a style known as Seygalare – the inspiration behind Bocoum’s own take on desert blues. At the age of 13, he was recruited into the band of Ali Farka Touré, the doyen of desert blues guitarist-singers, with whom he composed many songs and performed extensively. Bocoum founded the band Alkibar in the 1980s to perform his own compositions and arrangements of music inspired by Seygalare and other local styles. His combination of acoustic guitar with local instruments (ngoni/kubur, njurkel, njarka, calabash) echoes the contemporary sound of the desert blues in an earthier, more tradition-based style unique to Bocoum. Many of his songs address the need for social justice in his country and speak of music’s historic role in the Sahel region as a means of disseminating information. Bocoum’s recordings on the UK-based World Circuit label circulate worldwide, most recently, Lindé, released in 2020.