My 2014 photoshoot of Songhoy Blues in the Malian capital, Bamako, which yielded the cover shot of their hit debut 'Music in Exile'.

Mali’s biggest musical export of the past decade in the ‘early days’.

I was lucky enough to spend time with Songhoy Blues in the ‘early days’. Those days weren’t so long ago – 2013 and 2014 – but so dizzying has their rise to fame been, they seem to belong to another century. I met the band thanks to the late Marc-Antoine Moreau, who became their first manager. I’ll always miss Marco; he was the most fearless of musical sappers, without qualms about venturing into the seediest joint in Bamako, Abidjan, Jo’Burg, Mexico City or Peckham, as long as there was a good chance of discovering some startling new talent there. He was a good and loyal friend. These photos are dedicated to him…

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