REBEL MUSIC: TINARIWEN BREAKS THROUGH
From Mali, the West African country that gave us international hit artists such as Ali Farka Toure, Oumou Sangare and Salef Keita, comes Tinariwen. The group, together for over two decades, is the real deal. They play protest music from a remote village on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Renown for their militant fight for human rights in one of the poorest countries on earth, the members of the band actually met in the squalor of a Libyan refugee camp where they first learned to play music on crude instruments like oil cans. The accessible, guitar-driven World Music of Tinariwen is a natural segue into/out of contemporary artists such as Indigenous, Santana and Ozomatli. The new Tinariwen album, Amassakoul (World Village) is now in stores. The group, with the new record already receiving airplay on a growing number of AAA stations, is currently in the midst of a North American tour.