Formed in 2012 at the University of Bamako by Oumar, Aliou and Garba Touré, Songhoy Blues is made up of singers and musicians Oumar, Aliou and Garba Touré st are joined by drummer Nathaniel Dembele. The capital of Mali served as a refuge for the band members, who had left the war-torn north of the country that year. Their style, borrowing from the Mandingo musical tradition and desert blues popularized by Ali Farka Touré and Tinariwen, attracted the attention of Marc-Antoine Moreau's Africa Express label, which released the track "Soubour " for the Maison des Jeunes compilation (2013). After a UK tour and appearances at the Womad and Transmusicales de Rennes festivals, the band signs with Transgressive Records to record their debut album Music in Exile (2015), produced by Nick Zimmer of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and featuring Damon Albarn, whom they support on the tour that follows. Songhoy Blues played at major international festivals, and returned to the studio for the gestation of their second album, Résistance (2017), followed by Optimisme (2020). After the Covid-19 pandemic, which kept the band away from the stage, the band returned to the public to promote the album Héritage, released in 2024.
