Music
Press
"Nightbird is one of the deepest listening experiences that will hit the U.S. market this year."
--- BILLBOARD MAGAZINE
"Eerily atmospheric"
---DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE (FOUR STARS)
"A vital mix of the Mississippi Delta and Mali, a cultural exchange of haunting beauty and mystery."
---BLUES REVUE MAGAZINE
"The Best Music issue, 2003"
---GLOBAL RHYTHM MAGAZINE
"One of the most inspired and arresting world music/blues albums"
---DIRTY LINEN MAGAZINE
"This is a hypnotic journey through time that goes all the way to the heart of the blues."
--- WIRED MAGAZINE
"The word soulful certainly describes this excellent CD, which blues, rock, and Afro-pop enthusiasts should all be aware of."
--- ALL MUSIC GUIDE
(4 & 1/2 stars)
"Spare, moody, and beautiful, it builds a bridge between continents, and takes the blues home."
---fROOTS MAGAZINE (UK) - Various Media
Discography
"This is an extremely powerful album..it could be a BIG album." --Ben Manilla, Executive Director, House of Blues Radio Hour
SNAKESKIN VIOLIN-released February 19, 2008.
SNAKESKIN VIOLIN is a kaleidoscopic journey in which fellow travellers appear and vanish.
It features collaborations with a
shaman in Timbuktu; old-school drummers in Como, Mississippi; Wassoulou hunters; Tamashek
women in Timbuktu, African Diaspora musicians in California and Malian master musicians in Bamako.
CALABASH BLUES (2006)
TIMBUKTOUBAB (DVD-2005) Filmed in and around the legendary cultural crossroads of Timbuktu at the Southern edge of the Sahara, this uplifting documentary about the cross-cultural collaboration between a white Blues-loving American and the traditional Malian musicians who keep the ancients roots alive has been awarded a CINE Golden Eagle Award, and been broadcast on many PBS and satellite stations throughout the US.
TIMBUKTOUBAB (CD-2005)-CD of DVD
NIGHTBIRD (2002)
http://markusjames.calabashmusic.com/
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=91539585
Photos
Bio
Playing exciting bottleneck slide on acoustic and electric guitars, Markus is generally acknowledged by the world music press and radio as the young father of the cross-cultural hybrid of American hill country blues and traditional Malian music. Markus and the Wassonrai sing in both English and Malian dialects.
In February 2007, the UK's highly respected World Music publication fROOTS called Markus James the "unofficial dean of this movement" of up and coming roots musicians connecting with the African source, saying:
"The magic is not only about the rich brooding sound textures he and his musicians craft, simmering grooves and ethereal melodies that
elide the worlds of the Mississippi and Niger rivers. It also extends to the words and meaning."
In the United States, popular jam bands like Toubab Krewe and The North Mississippi All Stars
have tipped their collective hat to him in acknowledgement.
In March 2007, Markus James was honored to be invited to perform in Bamako and Niafounke, Mali, at the series of three tribute concerts celebrating the life his friend and inspiration, the legendary Ali
Farka Toure. These concerts featured Mali's greatest artists and were broadcast throughout Mali. Markus has performed at the legendary Festival In the Desert in Mali three times and has a standing invitation to return.
Markus has been traveling and recording in Mali, West Africa since 1994, when he first made his way to the village of Niafounke to meet and mentor with the legendary West African Bluesman and Grammy-winning recording artist, Ali Farka Toure. Since then Markus has developed ongoing collaborations with several masters of traditional Malian music, living together in an adobe-walled house while composing, recording and performing together in the desert region of Timbuktu - the near-mythological crossroads at the southern edge of the Sahara. Markus' albums Nightbird and Timbuktoubab, his award-winning PBS 2005 film, TIMBUKTOUBAB, and Calabash Blues have all received excellent critical acclaim, as have his performances in the US with Malian artists based here.
Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits and Mickey Hart are amongst his fans.
The 2008 tour behind SNAKESKIN VIOLIN is being supported by a major feature on the "House of Blues Radio Hour" (airing March 1-2, 2008) as well other nationally syndicated radio features.
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