Did anyone else catch these guys on their tour? They are fabulous. We first heard them driving through the desert in Morocco years ago - along with bootleg CDs of Jil Jila, another desert blues band. Legend has it Tinariwen would copy music for anyone that had a blank tape. How far they have come - their last album, on vinyl 'Emmaar' also came with a CD and free downloads - as well as featuring guest appearance collab with Mark Lanegan, Matt Sweeney and Kurt Vile. Check out this gorgeous animation of one of the tracks on it:
Tinariwen means 'desert boys' and play what is called desert blues, likened to American Blues - but most Mali musicians pre-internet had never heard of American blues (check out Radio Mali by Ali Farkar Toure and his song Hani - so bluesy)
Little suprise given the African roots of the blues I suppose!
Theres a really rich sound to their guitar based music, and a sense of mournful nostalgia which their current lead singer calls 'assouf' ( they are a collective and started in the 1970s!!). This makes sense when you consider how homesick they must get for family and the sense nothings ever safe in their part of the world. Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who started the band, did so in exile in Libya from what I have read. This is from the New Yorker that sums things up:
''Deciphering the Tuareg’s role in the region’s current wars is not easy. Subjects of oppression, they were themselves longtime slave traders (and, by some accounts, a form of slavery still exists in some Tuareg communities). Their struggle to receive recognition from the government of Mali has led to several insurgencies, and the recent introduction of Islamist sects into the region has further complicated the situation. Last year, a member of Tinariwen, Abdallah Ag Lamida (known as Intidao), was kidnapped by Islamists in northern Mali. He was held for around ten days before escaping—the other guys in the band picked him up. As several journalists who have reported from the area said, the Tuareg have been “used” by both the Islamists and local governments. Though Tinariwen’s lyrics are more poetic than specifically political, the group is working to “spread the message,” as Ag Leche put it"
Go check them out. They are remarkable, and transport me to desert skies.
Here is the tune with Lanegan. I hope you love them as much as I do.
