Malian music is most certainly not a male preserve (just look at the success of Oumou Sangaré, Rokia Traoré, Kandia Kouyaté or Mariam Doumbia), but it hasn't been easy for women to change the old traditions.

The kora, the classical harp-lute of West Africa, is best-known as the instrument of the male hereditary musicians, the griots, and Madina N'Diaye found herself in trouble with the more establishment-minded players when she decided to take up the kora. But she persevered, helped by the world's greatest kora player, Toumani Diabaté, and went on to work with that adventurous African-influenced French band, Lo'Jo, and then to form her own group.

Although she lost her sight three years ago, she kept going and has now released her first European CD. It's a confident, easy-going affair in which she wisely refrains from attempting Toumani's virtuoso flourishes but provides gentle, stately backing for light, easy-going songs like Moussou, with its insistence on women's musical skills, or Fête à la Trinité, a cheerfully unlikely burst of Malian-French calypso. She deserves to succeed.

* Download: Tounga, Fête à la Trinité