Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - In the Heart of The Moon - WCD072

This collaboration between two of the superstars of West African music was recorded in a hotel room overlooking the River Niger in Bamako, Mali, where the musicians and crew could watch the pirogues drifting past. The music is improvised and intricate so don’t expect any fireworks - the whole album has a sense of calm, drifting in whatever direction the two artists decided to go, Farka Toure on guitar, of course, and Diabate on kora.

If you’re a purist, you probably won’t be pleased to hear that Ry Cooder and his son, and the Buena Vista bass player, Orlando Cachaito Lopez, turn up on a few tracks but they’re pretty much in the background so this is still an African album, rather than a hybrid like Talking Timbuktu. And if you turn your nose up at it because the Cooders are now ubiquitous, you’d be missing something really special. It’s also a beautiful recording, supple and dry as dust at the same time.