Terakaft – Live @ Rich Mix
aaamusic | On 03, May 2015
Wednesday 29th April, London
Two years since their last UK gig and just one week before the release of Teneré (their fifth album), London once enjoyed the unique Terakaft’s artistry and rarefied sound.
Like a blow of Sirocco, the ensemble heated up Rich Mix’s atmosphere throughout a one and a half hour set and delighted their dreamy and enthralled audience with a mix between brand new and old tunes.
With only two members of the band obtained a visa to perform in the UK, and though the musicians on stage weren’t the pictures of volubility (few words but well-spent), their performance outcome was as intense and captivating as ever, also thanks to the support of two skilled musicians like Nicolas Grupp and Andrew Sudhibhasilp.
In addition, the gig was honoured by the call of Simo Lagnawi, gnawa and guembri master, who created a Saharan music bond between his Moroccan tradition and Terakaft Malian one, and by visit of Justin Adams: the band’s producer and remarkable guitarist.
On stage, Diara (real name Liya Ag Ablil) and his nephew Sanou Ag Ahmed, though are still deeply fond of the desert blues style, showed the other routes that Terakaft’s caravan has taken in its ten-years long career.
Next to their visionary guitar melodies, which like concentric circles surrounded Rich Mix’s hall and embraced the audience, the band displayed rougher sonorities and more eclectic arrangements, which demonstrated Justin Adams’ influence on the band’s recent growth.
But it’s still in Diara and Sanou’s musicianship and their distinctive sharp and nasal voices where Tamikrest’s brilliance lies.
In fact, the duo fully embodies the trademark of the project: for almost two hours they were able to transpose a cultural centre in the noisy and chaotic Shoreditch in the wide-open and silent spaces of the Sahara where the Terakaft’s caravan, despite all the political troubles it has to overcome, still resides.
They started off the gig going back to their second album, released in 2008, and recalling ‘Ténéré Wer Tat Zinchegh’, also one of their most popular tunes. Then, the musicians entirely unfolded their new work: Ténéré, an album which embodies the loneliness and soulfulness of the region where it was conceived.
However, the relentless rhythmicity of the performance didn’t allow the audience to overthink about Azawad’s troubles. The tuareg artists, wearing characteristic tagelmust (turbans) and colourful takatkat (robes), kept their fans entranced, also forcing them to move their feet and legs to follow the overwhelming desert groove.
For one evening, London breathed a deep gust of Sahara wind and was covered by a thin but pervasive layer of desert sand.
