Tinariwen April 22, 2011

The birth of the Malian band Tinariwen is closely linked to the uprising and exile of the Touareg people. As much as they raised the flag for the rebel movement, Tinariwen’s songs also speak of deep personal struggles and the love of their desert home. They were new and radical inasmuch as they wrote their own poems and songs – not the old Touareg verse of heroic deeds and fair maidens – but new lyrics about homesickness, longing, exile and political awakening. Traditional instruments were discarded in favor of the electric guitar, electric bass and drums. It’s often said that every Touareg is a member of Tinariwen, so widely are their songs known and treasured. They are more of a social movement than a desert rock’n’roll band. Their guitar licks, gritty desert sound, and effortless rhythms established them as one of the most popular and best selling African groups on the planet. It is a very long road that Tinariwen traveled from the wild empty places of the southern Sahara desert to the concert stages of the world.