(Previously available as 468005.)
AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN THE USA & FRANCE ONLY

Habib Koité, Mali's maverick singer/songwriter, has earned a worldwide reputation thanks to his critically acclaimed second album, Ma Ya. But it was his first release, Muso Ko, that made him an instant star back home in Mali, and it contains some of his best and most enduring compositions to date. "Cigarette Abana," still a mainstay of Koité's live show, has become an anti-smoking anthem these days, but it began in a humble, after hours jam session when Koité was making fun out of the fact that the musicians had run out of smokes. Muso Ko raised Koité and his group, Bamada, from the status of respected Bamako bar band to national headliners with a budding global career. The album draws upon Koité‘s many years of songwriting and delivers one crowd-pleaser after another.

“Muso Ko is a landmark album in the history of African pop. It reveals the freshness and vigor of a truly modern songsmith with deep personal roots and keen antennae for the rich culture and changing times that surround him.”
— Banning Eyre