SMOD

SMOD is a musical group from Mali, West Africa. The group performs what is essentially hip-hop music, but it's heavily seasoned with sounds of West African traditional music, modern Afropop, and even Western acoustic folk-rock. The band was originally made up of four members: Sam, Mouzy, Ousco, ad Donsky. Mouzy has since left the band, but the name stuck.

Sam is the son of blind Malian couple Amadou et Mariam, and it was through them that SMOD made a connection with international superstar Manu Chao, who met the young group while he was recording the Amadou et Mariam record Dimanche a Bamako. They'd already released two fairly straight-ahead hip-hop albums by the time they met Chao (2002's Dunia Kuntala and 2004's Ta I Tola), but they were beginning to explore a rootsier sound, using African rhythms and melodies as the basis for their powerful, revolution-themed rhymes. Chao apparently loved it, and produced their third record, SMOD (Compare Prices), which was internationally released in 2010 and 2011.

SMOD's music is unabashedly political, with a pro-democracy and anti-oppression message. Their songs speak of topics like police brutality, political corruption, and extreme poverty, all through their uniquely African lens. Still, though they deal with harsh subjects, the music is full of joy and hope, and leaves the listener fully optimistic and positive.

SMOD appeared at WOMEX (a major international world music trade show) in 2011, and are slated to appear at globalFEST 2012 (their United States debut), another event that caters heavily to world music industry insiders. Between these two major events and other industry chit-chat, a quickly-growing European fan base, as well as a quiet but ferocious buzz in the press, it's safe to say that SMOD is very much a group to keep your eyes on, and perhaps even the next big thing.