Taghreft Tinariwen is the pioneer band of the Tuareg contemporary music. Tinariwen, a free-flowing band of nomadic Touaregs (or Kel Tamashek, as they refer to themselves), blends time-honored musical forms with a rebellious sensibility to create an entrancing desert blues reminiscent of Ali Farke Touré. The musical style "Tishoumaren" plays a determining part in the cultural and identical claims by the Tuareg youth (in Algeria, Lybia, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso). The songs themselves are lively, echoing and deeply truthful of this collective passion that structures the resistance. The exile and the opposition are the main themes tackled by the ishoumars.

Reviews:
"...entrancing as the southern Sahara ...this music has a quiet, stirring mystery."
Billboard

"An electrifying band of Tuareg...Tinariwen capture the poetry and hardships of nomadic life and exile in hypnotic, modal vocals and a tangle of sidewinding riffs that sound lik a mirage come true: Keith Richards, Ry Cooder and Ali Farke Touré picking side by side under an unforgiving sun."
Rolling Stone

Tinariwen started as a traditional group in a refugee camp, but after hearing Bob Marley, Dylan and rock bands from Morocco they "went electric" to create a rock infused, trace inducing music that has become popular across Arab Africa, even though it is often banned due to its message of ethnic pride and political struggle. ...Abrasive male vocals, in the manner of a delta blues moaner, minimal acoustic and electric guitars, sparse electric bass, traditional percussion and a female chorus weave a tough, but compelling, roots music spell.
Pulse!