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Language:

Tamashek

Genre:

African blues Rock Traditional folkmusic

Instrument:

El.guitar Bass Calabash percussion Vocals

Articles:
Eye for Talent

On the Internet
WOMAD 2004 gig.
Music of resistance part 1
Music of resistance part 2

Biography

Tinariwen originates from the Tuareg village of Kidal in Northern Mali. The band's history goes as far back as to the 1980's, as a result of the difficult situation in which the proud Tuareg people found themselves at the time. Like many other nomadic people, they have been split by the modern boundaries in Africa, and the Tuaregs are scattered in Mali as well as in Niger, Mauretania, Algeria and Libya. The Tuaregs have traditionally lived from livestock and camel caravans through the Sahara desert. The foundation for this way of living has now more or less disappeared, and the Tuaregs have become victims of marginalisation. Their culture is under severe pressure, like so many other nomadic cultures on the continent, for instance the Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania.
Tamashek is the most common language of Mali's Tuareg population that has historically existed around the desert city of Timbuktu. "Taghret Tinariwen" which was the original name of the group, means 'the enlightenment of the nation' in Tamashek, and explains the idea of the band. Mali gained its independence from France in 1960. The post-colonial government immediately sought to assimilate the rebellious wanderers to the north to no avail, and initiated a campaign offer in 1963 that forever changed the course of the nation.
"The Tuareg people themselves, because they're nomadic, never really respected national borders, they don't like paying taxes and they resent being governed by far-off people who speak different languages from them," sais British guitarist Justin Adams, who has helped produce and distribute Tinariwen's first full-length album, "The Radio Tisdas Sessions."
"They also live in an arid part of the world so they've often had to resort to a bit of a banditry and thieving just to survive--there are centuries of distrust between the Tuareg and Malian natives."
The difficult situation of the Tuaregs led to the fact that many clans took up an armed struggle against the Malian authorities in the beginning of the 1990's. Several of the Tinariwen band members have been living in refugee camps in Libya and have been under military support and education by Mohammar Ghaddafi's goverment. In these camps many Tuaregs for the first time heard music by artists like Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. And they were introduced to the instrument that first and foremost stands as a symbol of rebellion among young people all over the world: The electric guitar. The group members gradually changed guns with guitars and Tinariwen has electrified the traditional Tuereg music. This has not only been done by Tinariwen, but the group has become a leading force, not least through their two albums that have been distributed internationally. With the group's second CD, "Amassakoul", Tinariwen has got a breakthrouh on the Western scene and the members are now touring Europe and the USA with their rebellious desert inspired rock’n’roll and blues.

Relevant artists:
Ali Farka Touré
Afel Bocoum
Boubacar Traoré
Orchestre National de Barbés

THE RADIO TISDAS SESSIONS
World Village/Wrasse records/2002

AMASSAKOUL  
Independent Records/Wrasse Records/2004

The electric guitar has revolutionized the world's music scene. A musical rebellion has followed wherever people have got hold of it: Chuck Berry and Bill Haley in America, Rolling Stones and the Who in England, Franco in Congo, Cheb Khaled in Algeria. The list could be made almost endless. Now it has happened in Northern Mali. So listen people, the Tuaregs have a message!
"'Amassakoul" is what happens when desperate and harassed people in the Sahara desert lay their hands on electric guitars: Rock and roll!
Well, not quite that simple. But Tinariwen surely mixes the old Tuareg music with new technology. The songs are written by the band members themselves, and nothing could fit better together than these songs and electric instruments! Nearly all the songs are about being a human in the desert, themes that could be taken straight out of Samuel Beckett's plays. It's rough, it's existential and it is beautiful. It's recorded in Bamako by Frenchman Yves Wernert who also has been working with Issa Bagayogo, among others, and the sound is a little "dry", makes me thing of Rolling Stones anno 1965. The music ressembles Ali Farka Toure's blues, but it also has something else. The Tuaregs are Berbers, belonging to the original population in these areas, before the Arabs came. On top of the relatively simple songs the group members put some guitar riffs so moving and efficient they could make Keith Richards cry with envy. You feel the burning sun, the rough wind and the dry sand in this music. The rhythms are rolling slowly, like the moving of the camels, the riffs exploding like the sharp sound of a whip. You will not get tired of this music. It is as liberating and engaging as rock and roll could be - ever!

AMAN IMAN  
Inpendiente Records/Emma/EMI/2006-07

Another great album from Tinariwen. 12 strong songs from the desert. The style is the same, the rolling, repeatedly played riffs, taking you into this very special African mood. If you compare this album with "Amassakoul", there is a slight difference: A few accoustic tracks added this time. It brings variation and a sort of intimacy to the album, as you were there with the group around the camp fire. It is as captivating as ever. Lyricwise the tone is even tougher, in the track "Soixante trois" (Sixty three") a Tuareg (Tamashek) rebellion is being remembered and celebrated. The Tuaregs are being marginalised in present Mali, no wonder they seek to restablish their status. But some of these lyrics I would suppose Governments in West Africa would label "tribalistic". These rebellious lyrics doesn't make the music swing less; on the contrary. It makes the whole Tinariwen project rebel music, real rock and roll!

IMIDIWAN: COMPANIONS  
Inpendiente 2009

I don't know exactly what makes "Imidiwan" an even better album than the previous ones. Perhaps an even better production, the group feels very close and plays with a surprising presence. Or perhaps the group members have developed, they wander easyly from slower to more rocky versions of their desert blues songs, the riffs as gripping as ever. I just can't belive it, this is only riffs, rolling, rolling with these rebellious, existential lyrics on top of it all. The songs are again these harsh, but still poetic words about living in the desert, a picture of human existance as such. Is this why this music works so well all over the world? That everybody somehow feels related to it? It could also be that the enclosed DVD with a beautiful 30 min. documentary from the home areas of Tinariwen gives us an even better picture and understanding of what this is all about. Or ir it that simple that this is just great music?

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Swahili: Francis Chagula (francis.chagula@malvik.kommune.no)
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