Tinariwen | |
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![]() Tinariwen performing in Nuremberg, 2010 | |
Background information | |
Origin | Tamanrasset, Algeria Tessalit, Mali |
Genres | |
Years active | 1979–present |
Labels | Independiente, EMMA Productions, Tribal Union, Wayward Records, Outside Music, World Village Records, Anti, Epitaph |
Website | www.tinariwen.com |
Tinariwen (Tamasheq: ⵜⵏⵔⵓⵏ; with vowels ⵜⵉⵏⴰⵔⵉⵡⵉⵏ; plural of ténéré meaning "desert" [1] ) is a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of northern Mali. Considered pioneers of desert blues, the group's guitar-driven style combines traditional Tuareg and African music with Western rock music. They have released nine albums since their formation and have toured internationally.
The group was founded by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib; he and bandmates Alhassane Ag Touhami and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni have all been present since 1979. [2] [3] Tinariwen first started to gain a following outside the Sahara region in 2001 with the release of the album The Radio Tisdas Sessions. Their most recent album Amatssou was released in 2023.
The group has been nominated for Grammy Awards three times, and their 2012 album Tassili won the award for Best World Music Album in 2012. [4] NPR calls the group "music's true rebels", [5] AllMusic deems the group's music "a grassroots voice of rebellion", [6] and Slate calls the group "rock 'n' roll rebels whose rebellion, for once, wasn't just metaphorical". [7]
At four years old, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib witnessed the execution of his father, a Tuareg rebel, during a 1963 uprising in Mali. [8] After seeing a western film in which a cowboy played a guitar, [9] Ag Alhabib built his own guitar out of a "plastic water can, a stick and some fishing wire", according to future bandmate Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni. [10] During his childhood, Ag Alhabib lived in Algeria in refugee camps near Bordj Badji Mokhtar and in the deserts around the southern city of Tamanrasset, where he was given a guitar by an Algerian man, who also taught him how to play the Algerian way of the Tergui music. [11]
Later, Ag Alhabib resided in Algeria and Libya with other Tuareg exiles. He acquired his first real acoustic guitar in 1979. [12] During this period he formed a band with Alhassane Ag Touhami and brothers Inteyeden and Liya Ag Ablil [13] to play at parties and weddings. [14] While the group had no official name, people began to call them Kel Tinariwen, which in the Tamashek language translates as "The People of the Deserts" or "The Desert Boys". [15]
In 1980 Libyan ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi put out a decree inviting all young Tuareg men who were living illegally in Libya to receive full military training. Gaddafi dreamed of forming a Saharan regiment, made up of young Tuareg fighters, to further his territorial ambitions in Chad, Niger, and elsewhere in the region. [16] Ag Alhabib and his bandmates answered the call and received nine months of training. [17] During such exercises, the band met additional Tuareg musicians and formed a loosely-organized collective to create songs about the issues facing the Tuareg people. [9] They built a makeshift studio and vowed to record music for free for anyone who supplied a blank cassette tape. The resulting homemade cassettes were traded widely throughout the Sahara region. [18]
In 1989 the collective left Libya and moved to Ag Alhabib's home country of Mali, where he returned to his home village of Tessalit for the first time in 26 years. [19] In 1990 the Tuareg people of Mali revolted against the government, with some of the musicians of the collective participating as rebel fighters. After a peace agreement known as the Tamanrasset Accords was reached in January 1991, the musicians left the rebel movement and devoted themselves to music full-time. [20] In 1992 some members of Tinariwen went to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, to record a cassette at JBZ studios. They played occasional gigs for far-flung Tuareg communities throughout the Sahara region, gaining word-of-mouth popularity among the Tuareg people.[ citation needed ]
In 1993, the Tuareg humanitarian Manny Ansar became the group's manager. [13] Ansar initially organized concerts for the collective in Bamako, until realizing that there was international demand for Tuareg music. Tinariwen was then organized as an official band with about a dozen named members. [21] In 1998, Tinariwen came to the attention of the French world music ensemble Lo'Jo and their manager Philippe Brix. That group traveled to a music festival in Bamako and met two members of the Tinariwen collective. [22] In 1999, some members of Tinariwen traveled to France and performed with Lo'Jo under the name Azawad. [23]
In 2001, Ansar organized the inaugural Festival au Désert in Tin Essako, Mali, [13] [24] in collaboration with Lo'Jo and the Belgian Sfinks Festival, with Tinariwen headlining. [23] [25] Their debut full-length album, The Radio Tisdas Sessions , was recorded by Justin Adams and Jean-Paul Romann at the radio station of the same name in Kidal, Mali (the only Tamashek-speaking station in the region) and released in 2001. [26] It was Tinariwen's first recording to be released outside of northern Africa.
Since 2001 Tinariwen have toured regularly in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Also since 2001 the collective has added several younger Tuareg musicians who did not live through the military conflicts experienced by the older members but have contributed to the collective's multi-generational evolution. Newer members include bassist Eyadou Ag Leche, percussionist Said Ag Ayad, guitarist Elaga Ag Hamid, and guitarist Abdallah Ag Lamida. [6]
Their 2004 album Amassakoul ("The Traveller" in Tamashek) [27] and their 2007 album Aman Iman ("Water Is Life") [28] were released worldwide and gained the notice of celebrity fans including Carlos Santana, Robert Plant, Bono, the Edge, Thom Yorke, Chris Martin, Henry Rollins, Brian Eno, and members of TV on the Radio. [29] In 2005, Tinariwen received a BBC Award for World Music, and in 2008 they received Germany's prestigious Praetorius Music Prize. The band's 2009 album Imidiwan: Companions was recorded in a mobile studio by Jean-Paul Romann in Tessalit. [30] The band appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in 2009. [31] [32]
In 2010, Tinariwen represented Algeria in the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, [33] and completed a lengthy American tour. [34] The band released their fifth album Tassili in 2011, [35] featuring guest appearances by Nels Cline, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio. [36] Ian Brennan produced the album. The album won the Award for Best World Music Album at the 54th Grammy Awards. [37] Their world tour in 2011 included performances at the End of the Road Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties. [38] Tinariwen appeared on The Colbert Report on 29 November 2011 with Adebimpe and Malone to play two songs from Tassili . Group members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Alhassane Ag Touhami, and Eyadou Ag Leche participated in a translated interview with Colbert. [39] They appeared at the January 2012 Festival au Désert, where they were joined on stage by Bono and Bassekou Kouyate. [40] [41]
In early 2012 there was another Tuareg rebellion in Tinariwen's home region of northern Mali, with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad declaring independence and forming the short-lived unrecognized state Azawad. Another party in the rebellion, the militant Islamist group Ansar Dine, denounced the presence of popular music in the territory, [42] and Tinariwen was targeted specifically during this campaign. [43] During this period, Tinariwen had scheduled a tour of Australia and New Zealand, but Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Elaga Al Hamid were not able to get out of Mali due to the conflict. Members of Lo'Jo joined the rest of Tinariwen on stage at the WOMADelaide festival. [25]
In a January 2013 confrontation with Ansar Dine militants, who had denounced Tinariwen and their music, Abdallah Ag Lamida was abducted while trying to save his guitars. [44] [45] A few weeks later, Tinariwen reported that Ag Lamida had been released and was "safe and free". [46] During Ag Lamida's captivity, several other members of Tinariwen fled from the conflict and resettled temporarily in the southwestern United States to record their sixth album, Emmaar, with guests including Josh Klinghoffer, Fats Kaplin, Matt Sweeney, and Saul Williams. Recording took place at Joshua Tree National Park in California, which features a desert environment similar to that of Tinariwen's homeland. [47] Emmaar was released worldwide in 2014. Tinariwen then embarked on a tour of Europe and North America, but without group leader Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who decided to remain in Mali to attend to family issues caused by the latest political crisis. Bassist Eyadou Ag Leche assumed the role of musical director, and a new singer/guitarist named Iyad Abderrahmane was recruited to perform Ag Alhabib's parts during the tour. [48]
In 2016, the group returned to Joshua Tree National Park to record parts of their seventh album, Elwan , with additional recording in France and the remote settlement of M'Hamid El Ghizlane in southern Morocco (home of the Festival Taragalte). [49] The album was released in 2017 and featured guest appearances by Matt Sweeney, Kurt Vile, Mark Lanegan, and Alain Johannes. [50] Tinariwen then embarked on an American tour with Dengue Fever as support. [51] The group toured Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand through 2018, with another appearance at WOMADelaide. [52] After the international tour, Tinariwen were unable to return to their home area in northern Mali due to ongoing sectarian violence and threats from Islamist militants. [53] The group instead decamped in Morocco and embarked on a multi-month journey through Western Sahara and Mauritania, collaborating with local musicians at several stops along the way and writing songs while camped out in the desert. [54]
Their eighth album, Amadjar , was recorded outdoors with mobile equipment near Nouakchott, Mauritania and was released in 2019. [55] Amadjar featured guest appearances by Noura Mint Seymali, Micah Nelson, Cass McCombs, Stephen O'Malley, and Warren Ellis. [56] In 2022, Tinariwen began a project to reissue several of their earlier albums in new formats; [57] the first such release was the album Kel Tinariwen, which collects several of the group's early recordings from the 1990s. [58] Their ninth album, Amatssou , was produced by Daniel Lanois and was released in May 2023. [59] Another world tour included a performance at the Glastonbury Festival. [60] [61]
Tinariwen's sound is primarily guitar-driven, in the style known as assouf among the Tuareg people. [62] The group's guitar style has its roots in West African music [63] and other traditional styles practiced by the Tuareg and Berber peoples, [64] [65] and has often been characterized as "desert blues". [66] Tinariwen was also influenced by traditional Malian musicians, most notably Ali Farka Touré, [67] and regional pop singers like Rabah Driassa. [11] While the Tinariwen style is possibly a distant relative of blues music, via West African music, members of Tinariwen claim to have never heard actual American blues music until they began to travel internationally in the early 2000s. [9] [68] Tinariwen was also influenced by American and British rock acts whose bootlegged albums had made it to the Sahara region, such as Dire Straits, [69] Santana, [70] Led Zeppelin, [71] Bob Dylan, [72] and Jimi Hendrix. [68]
Tinariwen has been named as a formative influence on a growing Tuareg rock scene, made up of younger musicians who were not rebels like the members of Tinariwen but have experienced their region's recent struggles with poverty and terrorism. [63] The band Imarhan is led by Sadam Iyad Moussa Ben Abderamane, who has collaborated with Tinariwen and is the nephew of bassist Eyadu ag Leche. [63] Kel Assouf [63] and Tamikrest [73] have gained notice as younger Tuareg rock bands that cite Tinariwen as a fundamental influence. The band Terakaft also consists of several musicians who have played with Tinariwen. [21]
Tinariwen is a collective of singers, songwriters, and musicians who come together in different combinations to play concerts and to record. This is because of the nomadic lifestyle of the Tuareg people and the difficulties of transportation and communication in the Sahara region. The group rarely brings a consistent line-up on its international tours, though several members tour regularly. [48]
Year | Album | Peak positions | Certification | |||||||
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BEL (Fl) [79] | BEL (Wa) [80] | FRA [81] | NED [82] | NOR [83] | SWE [84] | SWI [85] | UK | |||
2001 | The Radio Tisdas Sessions | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
2004 | Amassakoul | – | – | 80 | – | – | – | – | – | |
2007 | Aman Iman: Water is Life | – | – | 72 | 84 | – | 41 | – | – | |
2009 | Imidiwan: Companions | 68 | – | 82 | 81 | – | – | – | – | |
2011 | Tassili | 33 | 46 | 95 | – | 15 | – | – | 68 | |
2014 | Emmaar | 61 | 115 | 90 | – | – | – | 92 | – | |
2017 | Elwan | 31 | 68 | 87 [86] | – | – | – | 47 | – | |
2019 | Amadjar | 74 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
2023 | Amatssou | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Year | Album | Film |
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2006 | The Soul Rebel of African Desert | Amassakoul & Jérémie Reichenbachs film The Guitars of the Touareg Rebellion (CD / DVD) |
The music of Mali is, like that of most African nations, ethnically diverse, but one influence predominates: that of the ancient Mali Empire of the Mandinka. Mande people make up around 50% of Mali's population; other ethnic groups include the Fula (17%), Gur-speakers 12%, Songhai people (6%), Tuareg and Moors (10%).
Azawad, or Azawagh, was a short-lived unrecognised state lasting from 2012 to 2013. Azawagh (Azawaɣ) is the generic Tuareg Berber name for all Tuareg Berber areas, especially the northern half of Mali and northern and western Niger. The Azawadi declaration of independence was declared unilaterally by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in 2012, after a Tuareg rebellion drove the Malian Armed Forces from the region.
The Festival au désert was an annual concert in Mali, showcasing traditional Tuareg music as well as music from around the world between 2001 and 2012. It was founded and directed by Manny Ansar, and attracted thousands of visitors, bringing a huge boost to the economy.
Tartit are a band from the Tombouctou Region of Mali. The group consists of five women and four men, all of whom are Tamasheq-speaking Tuareg. They formed in 1992 in a refugee camp in Mauritania. Imharhan, an expanded group that includes current and former Tartit members, incorporates electric instruments and cross-cultural experiments into their music.
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."
Aman Iman is a 2007 album by the Malian band Tinariwen, produced by Justin Adams. The album was recorded in just two weeks in Bamako, Mali. AllMusic praised the album as "a glorious syncopated noise that puts most rockers to shame. But there's a wonderful looseness to the sound." Pitchfork called the album "the most powerful statement they've issued so far" and in the words of the BBC, "Aman Iman successfully balances the upbeat with the plaintive, and density of sound with sparseness."
Tishoumaren or assouf, internationally known as desert blues, is a style of music from the Sahara region of northern and west Africa. Critics describe the music as a fusion of blues and rock music with Tuareg, Malian or North African music. Various other terms are used to describe it including desert rock, Saharan rock, Takamba, Mali blues, Tuareg rock or simply "guitar music". The style has been pioneered by Tuareg musicians in the Sahara region, particularly in Mali, Niger, Libya, Western Sahara, Algeria, Burkina Faso and others.
Imidiwan: Companions, released 29 June 2009, is the fourth studio album by Tuareg band Tinariwen. The album saw the band reunite with Jean-Paul Romann, the producer of their 2001 album The Radio Tisdas Sessions. Some editions of the album include a DVD featuring a 30-minute documentary about the band.
Omara "Bombino" Moctar is a Tuareg singer-songwriter and guitarist from Niger. His music is sung in Tamasheq and often addresses Tuareg geopolitical concerns. Bombino is the subject of the documentary film Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion.
Tamikrest is a group of musicians who belong to the Tuareg people. The band was founded in 2006 in Kidal, Mali. They mix traditional African music with Western rock and pop influences and sing in Tamashek. The main songwriter and leader of the band is Ousmane Ag Mossa.
Tassili is the fifth album by the Tuareg-Berber band Tinariwen, recorded in Tassili n'Ajjer, an Algerian national park in 2011. The album marked a major departure from previous recordings. The producer, Ian Brennan, stated that it "was the least overdubbed, most live, band-centric and song-oriented record they have done.”
Iyad Ag Ghaly, also known as Abū al-Faḍl, is a Tuareg militant from Mali's Kidal Region. He has been active in Tuareg rebellions against the Malian government since the 1980s – particularly in the early 1990s. In 1988, he founded the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad. In the latest episode of the Tuareg upheavals in 2012, he featured as the founder and leader of the Islamist militant group Ansar Dine.
Emmaar is the sixth album by the Tuareg band Tinariwen, released in 2014. Emmaar is a Tuareg word meaning "the heat on the breeze". It is their first full album not to be recorded in northern Africa.
Noura Mint Seymali is a Mauritanian griot, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist.
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Les Filles de Illighadad are a Tuareg band founded by Fatou Seidi Ghali in Illighadad, a village in the Sahara Desert in Niger. Ghali, it is claimed, is the first Tuareg woman to play guitar professionally.
Amadjar is the eighth album by the Tuareg band Tinariwen, released on September 6, 2019. The album's title means "the foreign traveler" in the Tamashek language. The album features guest appearances by Noura Mint Seymali, Micah Nelson, Cass McCombs, Stephen O'Malley, Warren Ellis, and Rodolphe Burger. The album reached number 74 on the Ultratop albums chart in Belgium.
Ahmed Ag Kaedy is a Malian guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the leader of the group Amanar de Kidal. Originally from Kidal, he is a member of the nomadic Tuareg people, whose distinct style of rhythm and use of the guitar is often referred to as Tishoumaren, or desert blues. He is one of the main characters in the 2016 documentary Mali Blues.
Amatssou is the ninth album by the Tuareg band Tinariwen, released on 19 May 2023. The album's title means "beyond the fear" in the Tamashek language. The album features contributions from Fats Kaplin and was produced by Daniel Lanois.
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