aaamusic | On 12, May 2014

Saturday 3rd May, Cheltenham

Grammy Award winning Tinariwen (meaning “deserts”), the band of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert in northern Mali, play world, blues, rock, folk and tishoumaren. Their popularity rose worldwide with the release of their critically acclaimed album Aman Iman  in 2007.

Their guitar driven music, known as assouf, has it’s origin in West African music, particularly the “great bend” area of the River Niger. These traditional melodies and rhythms embrace many other instruments:  the shepherd’s flute, mainly a man’s instrument, a one string fiddle known as an imzad, played by women, the tindé drum, played at festive occasions, and the lute known as the teherdent.

The countries of Egypt, India, Morocco and Algeria have also influenced their music and the band is a fan of  western groups like Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Santana, Jimi Hendrix and Kenny Rogers.

For their recent sixth album, Emmaar , the political situation in Mali made recording impossible so, instead, they travelled to a studio in California’s Mojave desert, near Joshua Tree National Park.

Strangely, Tinariwen had never heard American blues until they  travelled internationally in 2001, but they’re no longer a temporary desert mirage or novelty. They sing harmoniously about war, love, exile and the desert and their music swirls impressively, scattering elegantly like a sandstorm. Their songs continue to be moody, hypnotic and mysterious and you’re easily whisked away on an imaginary journey to a vast open landscape travelled by nomadic people.

Anthony Weightman