Tinariwen

The Touareg rebel group Tinariwen is the original and most famous ‘Tishoumaren’ band, the style of music they invented in the early eighties while in exile and fighting for their people’s sovereignty. A unique blend of traditional desert poetry, just as inspired by politics as love, and electric guitars, ‘Tishoumaren’ or ‘ishoumar’ is also widely known as ‘guitar’, the style’s symbolic instrument.
It was in 1982 that the founder members of Tinariwen, forced into exile across the Southern border with Algeria and deeply involved in the Touareg’s armed struggle, came together as a band. They were soon a must for both traditional festivities and parties alike. Their novel fusion of traditional songs and Western-influenced rock, reggae and blues (Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Morocco’s legendary Nass El Ghiwane in particular) carried by the hypnotic electric guitar quickly caught the imagination of the Touareg youth, their lyrics, looking to awaken political consciousness and evoking the plight of their people, sung by young and old alike across the desert.
Originally from Kidal, the administrative capital of the Adrar of Iforas region, the group currently resides in Bamako. A sign that times have changed. And Tinariwen is no longer simply a rebel group playing for the unemployed youth of their people. They have recorded an album (on Justin Adams’ Wayward label) and performed in numerous international festivals. What better way to spread the message of the difficulties still encountered by the Touareg people via the rich verses of Tamashek poetry and the desert’s electric guitar.

Benjamin MiNiMuM

// ALSO