{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox record label | name = Sahel Sounds | image = Sahel Sounds small logo.png | image_size = 128 | image_alt = <!-- WP:ALT text describing the image --> | caption = <!-- a caption for the image --> | founded = | founder = Christopher Kirkley | genre = | country = U.S. | location = Portland, Oregon | status = Active | website = {{URL|https://sahelsounds.com/}} }} '''Sahel Sounds''' is an American record label, based in Portland, Oregon, which specializes in music from the southern part of the Sahara desert.
==Details== Sahel Sounds was founded by Christopher Kirkley, a self-declared "amateur ethnomusicologist",<ref name=trnka>{{cite news |url=https://www.vrtxmag.com/articles/sahel-sounds-connecting-cultures-across-continents/ |access-date=February 19, 2021 |newspaper=Vortex |title=Sahel Sounds: Connecting Cultures Across Continents |first=Katey |last=Trnka |date=August 19, 2019}}</ref> who traveled to Africa in 2008 after hearing a CD by Afel Bocoum. Kirkley spent almost two years in Mauritania, Mali, and Niger.<ref name=may>{{cite web |url=https://thevinylfactory.com/features/sahel-sounds-interview/ |publisher=The Vinyl Factory |title=Saharan synthwave – How Sahel Sounds amplifies new music from West Africa |access-date=December 2, 2019 |first=Chris |last=May |date=March 26, 2019}}</ref> When he returned, he started the label, which releases albums frequently recorded by Kirkley in the field.<ref name=petrusich/> Some of the earliest releases were songs collected from musicians' cellphones, under the title ''Music from Saharan Cellphones''. Problems there included finding out who these artists were so he could get the right permissions and to pay them for their music; he says that the artists received 60% of the proceeds from the first album.<ref name=trnka/> One of the artists featured on these compilations was Mdou Moctar, whom Kirkley convinced afterward to star in a remake of the Prince film ''Purple Rain''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.tallahassee.com/story/entertainment/2019/09/05/mdou-moctar-heats-up-shred-fest-wilbury/2209749001/ |access-date=February 19, 2021 |newspaper=Tallahassee Democrat |title=Mdou Moctar's scorching riffs set to heat up shred-fest at The Wilbury |date=September 5, 2019 |first=Kati |last=Schardl}}</ref>
As an effort to steer clear of cultural appropriation, he claims complete transparency about finances, and divides all profits equally between the group and the label.<ref name=petrusich>{{cite news |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-heavy-meditative-and-tender-music-of-les-filles-de-illighadad |first=Amanda |last=Petrusich |date=November 11, 2019 |access-date=December 2, 2019 |title=The Heavy, Meditative, and Tender Music of Les Filles de Illighadad |newspaper=The New Yorker}}</ref>
==Artists== *Ahmedou Ahmed Lowla *Ahmed Ag Kaedy *DJ Diaki *Etran de L'Air *Kader Tarhanin *Les Filles de Illighadad *Luka Productions *Mamman Sani *Mdou Moctar *Tallawit Timbouctou *Hama
==Compilations== * ''Music from Saharan Cellphones''<ref>{{cite web |website=Pitchfork |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/mdou-moctar-ilana-the-creator/ |title=Mdou Moctar: ''Ilana (The Creator)'' |first=Andy |last=Beta |access-date=December 2, 2019 |date=April 1, 2019}}</ref>
* ''Music From Saharan Cellphones, Volume 2''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://shop.sahelsounds.com/products/music-from-saharan-cellphones-volume-2 |title=Music from Saharan Cellphones - Volume 2 |access-date=January 7, 2024 |archive-date=July 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240717203435/https://shop.sahelsounds.com/products/music-from-saharan-cellphones-volume-2 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://sahelsoundscompilations.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-saharan-cellphones-volume-2 |title=Music from Saharan Cellphones: Volume 2, by Various Artists}}</ref>
* ''Music from Saharan WhatsApp''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Music from Saharan WhatsApp, by Various Artists |url=https://sahelsoundscompilations.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-saharan-whatsapp |access-date=December 7, 2022 |website=Sahel Sounds Compilations |language=en}}</ref>
== See also == * Desert blues
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{official|https://sahelsounds.com}} * [https://sahelsounds.bandcamp.com/ Sahel Sounds] on Bandcamp
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Category:American record labels Category:Desert blues