Amar Sundy

Singer/guitarist Amar Sundy introduced the blues to France. Fondly nicknamed "the bluesman of the desert," he fuses American blues, traditional French music, and Saharan sounds into what Blues Sur Seine described as "one of the most beautiful successes of inbreeding and a new path for the blues." A Tuareg native, Sundy sharpened his skills busking through the Parisian subways. He relocated to the United States during the 1980s, absorbing the blues directly from its leading figures through collaborations with Albert Collins, B.B. King, James Cotton, Jimmy Johnson, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and Albert King, the last of whom he accompanied on two national tours. Upon his return to France in the early 1990s, Sundy began shaping his distinctive blues style. His discography features the 2000 release Homme Bleu, followed by Najma in 2004 and Sadaka in 2009, the latter issued by the French label Dixie Frog.