tinariwen

tinariwen was formed in 1982. their name which is from a dialect of berber called tamashek, means "empty places", appropriate for a band hailing from the deserts of mali. originally formed in the camps of tuareg rebels struggling for independence in mali, tinariwen's story is a fascinating tale excerpted here from their webpage . . .

"in the desert oasis of tamanrasset, southern algeria, three aimless teenage friends in exile – ibrahim ag alhabib, hassan ag touhami aka 'the lion of the desert' and inteyeden - fall in love with the guitar, and with all the dreams of modernity and freedom that it embodies. they write songs about their own lives and about those of their friends, the modern touareg youth, no longer lording over the desert on their camels, but living the clandestino life far from home, surviving by any means necessary, longing for friends and family, dreaming of retribution, of freedom, of self-determination. they are kel tinariwen, the 'desert boys'.
in the 1980s, all three become soldier-musicians, lured into military camps in libya by colonel ghadaffi. their songs become the soundtrack of a time and of a movement; the ishumar, the sahara desert's generation x. they fight a brief, painful rebellion against the government of mali. they accept peace. they become full-time musicians and meet loJo, a group of musical adventurers from angers in france. they stage the first festival in the desert, visit europe for the first time, release two albums including the award winning 'amassakoul' and tour the world. this whole epic story takes 28 years to unfold."

it took a full 22 years before they quite literally burst onto the scene, blowing away an incredibly fortunate audience at the 2004 womad festival. the entertainment press - often a fickle bunch - grabbed onto this band and the resultant hype - and in my own humble opinion deserved hype - has carried them from their relative obscurity in africa to the world stage. playing around the world with all sorts of people . . . .

their latest cd entitled amam iman (which translated means "water is life") was released early in 2007. amam iman is filled with gut bucket rock roots music that is driven by the tight percussion, growling bass and staccatto handclaps they have become famous for. here's a compelling documentary on the music and the band that is tinariwen . . .

here's an excerpt from their recently released live dvd, featuring the song "cler achel" recorded at shepherd’s bush in london, england. Tinariwen - Cler Achel (from Live DVD)


a nice selection of tinariwen's music and band blog can be checked out over at their myspace page. zdenek tichy has a superb photo gallery devoted to tinariwen.
for more stuff uniquely tinariwen, head over to their homepage.