At the time of this session, I had not yet heard Bassekou and his band playing live, and  had only his impressive debut album Segu Blue to go by. In the week afterwards, I learned how versatile they could be, first witnessing Bassekou and his vocalist wife, Ami Sacko, playing together at a private party and then watching the whole band in full swing on the Siam Stage at WOMAD, where they stole the weekend.

The first surprise was the confidence and quality of Ami Sacko. On the album, she is very good; live, she is great, liable to let rip and sing with that classic sound that only Malian women can deliver, but also able to turn down the volume, lower her register, and sound gentle and intimate. Which is the voice she brought to this session in our radio studio.

Bassekou himself is truly a master musician, charismatic and effortless, playful in his interchanges with the rest of his group, in which his brother Andra is the rhythmic fulcrum, playing the big seven stringed bass ngoni.

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