Music

Tinariwan: Amadjar review | Ammar Kalia's global album of the month


There is a hazy expansiveness to Tuareg band Tinariwen’s music that recalls the desert setting in which it was created. Fuzzy guitars are rhythmically picked over undulating rhythms and gravelly baritone vocals; it is almost as if you can hear a sand-laden breeze passing between the mics as the band record.

Tinariwen: Amadjar album art work



Tinariwen: Amadjar album art work

For their ninth album, the nine-piece group took inspiration from that desert breeze as they rehearsed and wrote their music in the Moroccan Sahara en route to recording in Mauritania. The result is an impressionistic record full of references to “becoming the son of gazelles / who grew up in the meanderings of the desert,” on opener Tenere Maloulat, “golden sand glittering in the light of the moon” on Amalouna, and “the burning sun, sparks spouting from its entrails” on Zawal. It is an imaginative music that places the listener entirely within the nomadic Tinariwen universe, regardless of where you are listening.

Amadjar features a host of impressive guests, including Bad Seeds co-founder Warren Ellis looping a plaintive violin line on Mhadjar Yassouf Idjan and bowing with distorted reverb on the clattering Iklam Dglour, while guitarist Cass McCombs provides a floating falsetto melody and oneiric spoken word for Kel Tinawen. But the true artistry comes from the deft interplay between the younger and long-serving members of Tinawiren: percussionist Said Ag Ayad’s polyrhythms with bassist Eyadou Ag Leche, the joyous choral backing vocals from all members, and, crucially, the weather-worn delivery of founding lead singer Ibrahim Ag Alhabib tying each composition together.

This is a band that has been in existence, in one form or another, since 1979. Never resorting to cliche, they continue to be just as inspired by the universal themes of love, politics and nature as they always have been. Their musical delivery is just as heartfelt and forceful for it.

Also out this month

Cuban singer Daymé Arocena returns with her third album, Sonocardiogram, letting her powerhouse voice soar as she sings over kinetic clave rhythms. One highlight is the Trilogia suite – Oyá, Oshún and Yemayá – featuring a percussive medley on the traditional batá drum. Tunisian collective Arabstazy release their second compilation of contemporary electronic music from the Arab world, Under Frustration – Vol 2: full-on deconstructed club productions by the likes of Hyperdub signee DJ Haram. Also out this month is an excellent compilation of mostly forgotten releases from the displaced Cape Verdean community from the 1970s and 80s, called Radio Verde. Its joyous mix of spangly disco synths and pulsing coladeira showcases the musical interchanges of migration.



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