For 'Every Song Has Its End: Sonic Dispatches From Traditional Mali', the second part in their Hidden Musics series, Glitterbeat Records called on producer Paul Chandler, who's been living and working in Mali for over a decade now, trying to document and archive the country's vast music culture. He doesn't focus on the Mali-blues, a genre that's also become highly popular in the West; but travels to the farthest corners of the country in search of traditional music and the accompanying rituals, recording them for posterity before they're swallowed up by the ever encroaching modernization. Asked about his motivation, Chandler replied: "I realized that this stuff was quite precious and was starting to disappear. There are traditional instruments and there is music that is played in a traditional context and while there are a lot of Malians playing music, music played in a traditional context, for ritual, for ceremony, to accompany activities in the village, that is becoming more rare..." Be warned, the songs on this compilation sound a lot more inaccessible than the music from artists we've gotten used to like Ali Farka Touré, Bassekou Kouyate or Habib Koite, and, at times, the album feels more like a field recording for the Royal Museum for Central Africa, but for those willing to dig a little deeper, this collection offers a unique musical journey of discovery. And to please the eye, there's also an accompanying DVD featuring some of the songs and in depth interviews with some of the artists which can be previewed on YouTube.