Music from Saharan WhatsApp

This is an efficient album title — the bands here exist in and around the Saharan desert and have recorded this music directly to WhatsApp, which then became the distribution platform. Sahel Sounds put out a series of these compilations during 2020, and this is the only permanent collection drawn from those releases. (The original comps were only up for a limited time.) Aside from re-establishing that desert nations have a deep and fruitful relationship to the guitar and other plucked string instruments, this collection suggests that making music all together in a single moment is the way to go. This album has a coherence and depth that sneaks up on you. It’s very much about being in time and space with other people.