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The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria.
The music of Niger has developed from the musical traditions of a mix of ethnic groups; Hausa, the Zarma-Songhai, Tuareg, Fula, Kanuri, Toubou, Diffa Arabs and Gurma and the Boudouma from Lac Chad.
Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE, better known as Gilles Peterson, is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brownswood Recordings in 2006. He was awarded an honorary MBE in 2004, the AIM Award for Indie Champion and the Mixmag Award for Outstanding Contribution To Dance Music in 2013, the PRS for Music Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music Radio in 2014, and The A&R Award from the Music Producers Guild in 2019.
Agadez, formerly spelled Agadès, is the fifth largest city in Niger, with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of Agadez Region, it lies in the Sahara desert, and is also the capital of Aïr, one of the traditional Tuareg–Berber federations. The historic centre of the town has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Sublime Frequencies is a record label based in Seattle, Washington that focuses exclusively on "acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers," mostly from Southeast Asia, North Africa and West Africa and the Middle East.
Amassakoul is a 2004 album by the Tuareg band Tinariwen. In a review of the album, Chris Nickson of AllMusic stated, "This is angry and passionate; it's dangerous music in the very best sense. Western bands might have forgotten how to rock as if their lives depended on it; Tinariwen can teach them." Jon Lusk of the BBC noted, "you'll be happy to discover that this music has a similar power to transport you to the heats of the Sahara." In a review of the album, PopMatters concluded that "this is a band whose music is not only mesmerizing but is destined to find wide appeal to many listeners of all ages."
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The following is a list of events and releases that happened in 2021 in African music.
Abdallah Oumbadougou was a guitarist from Niger. He was one of the founders of the ishumar genre of the desert blues, a politicized, guitar-driven musical genre of the Kel Tamasheq people of North Africa's Sahel.
Afrique Victime is the sixth album by Tuareg musician Mdou Moctar. It was released on 21 May 2021 as the artist's first album with Matador Records and received positive reviews from international publications including Rolling Stone, Paste, Pitchfork, and The Guardian. The album is sung almost entirely in Tamasheq, though parts are in French.
Mamman Sani is a Nigerien-Ghanaian musician. He first recorded his electronic organ music in 1978 but it remained largely obscure and undiscovered until 2013. He is considered to be an early pioneer of synth music in Niger. Sani found unlikely fame in Denmark, regularly appearing in the playlist of Copenhagen bars.
Music from Saharan Cellphones is a compilation album released by Sahel Sounds of different songs by various musicians from Western and Sub-Saharan Africa.
References
- 1 2 Trnka, Katey (August 19, 2019). "Sahel Sounds: Connecting Cultures Across Continents". Vortex. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ↑ May, Chris (March 26, 2019). "Saharan synthwave – How Sahel Sounds amplifies new music from West Africa". The Vinyl Factory . Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- 1 2 Petrusich, Amanda (11 November 2019). "The Heavy, Meditative, and Tender Music of Les Filles de Illighadad". The New Yorker . Retrieved 2 December 2019.
- ↑ Schardl, Kati (September 5, 2019). "Mdou Moctar's scorching riffs set to heat up shred-fest at The Wilbury". Tallahassee Democrat . Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- ↑ Beta, Andy (April 1, 2019). "Mdou Moctar: Ilana (The Creator)". Pitchfork . Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- ↑ https://shop.sahelsounds.com/products/music-from-saharan-cellphones-volume-2
- ↑ https://sahelsoundscompilations.bandcamp.com/album/music-from-saharan-cellphones-volume-2
- ↑ "Music from Saharan WhatsApp, by Various Artists". Sahel Sounds Compilations. Retrieved 2022-12-07.