Saharan Band Pines for Nomadic Ways

By: Andrew Gilbert

Times Correspondent

             There are more than a dozen words for camel in the language of the Kel Tamashek people, a reflection of the countless generations they spent as nomads forging the sandy expanse of the Sahara Desert.

            But the humpback beasts of burden are no longer central to the lives of most Tamashek (who are also known as Touaregs), as devastating drought, military campaigns and political turmoil have forced them to settle in towns throughout Algeria, Mali, Niger, Burkino Faso and Libya.

            Tinariwen, a Touareg band based in Mali, has pioneered a style of music known as ishumar, a bluesy, guitar-driven sound steeped in nostalgia for the freedom of the desert, when every person in the society had an important role.

            The group recently released its second album in the United States, “Amassakoul,” which has been a hit in Europe, hovering near the top of the world music charts.  The band is making its first North American appearances as part of the Festival in the Desert tour, performing at Great American Music Hall on Tuesday wilt Malian diva Ramatou Diakite.

            “It’s a very difficult reality right now, because the Tamashek people can no longer be nomads,” says Abdallah Alhousseini, one of Tinariwen’s guitarists and vocalists, speaking in French through an interpreter.  “We have the spirit and souls of nomadic people, but due to what has happened to us, we’ve been forced to become more centralized around cities and have had to learn how to become politicians and businesspeople and become integrated into modern life.

            “Unfortunately, That’s not where our soul is,” Abdallah Alhousseini continues.  “Many of us have been educated, we haven’t been educated, we haven’t been to school, so we’re caught, torn between our nomadic tradition and being pushed to become more modernized.  Our music is about letting people know what we’re all about, having the hope of returning to our nomadic ways.”

            The style started gaining widespread notice in the West through an unlikely annual event called Festival in the Desert, first held in January 2001 in Mali, at the edge of the Sahara.  The festival piggybacked on a large traditional Touareg gathering, where the widely scattered people came together to celebrate their culture through song, dance, poetry, camel racing and ritual sword fighting.

            The festival started drawing well-known artists from outside the Tamashek community, eventually resulting in the 2003 album “Festival in the Desert” (World Village), featuring Malian stars including guitarist Ali Farka Toure and vocalist Oumou Sangare, French world music band Lo’Jo and rock icon Robert Plant backed by guitarist Justin Adams.

            Related to North Africa’s indigenous Amazigh (or Berber) peoples, the Touareg resisted French colonialism into the late 19^th century, earning a reputation as fierce and wily desert warriors.  With the end of French colonial rule in the 1960s, Touareg society found itself divided by the borders of five new countries: Algeria, Libya, Niger, Mali and Burkino Faso (formerly Upper Volta).

            A devastating drought in the 1970s and `80s almost wiped out the Touareg way of life, killing off camels and goats and forcing most Touareg to settle in cities.  A rebellion against Mali’s military government in the early`90s dispersed the Touareg further, leaving many exiled in refugee camps in Mauritania, Algeria and Burkino Faso.

            Tinariwen’s members came together in a military camp in Libya in the mid-‘80s, where they were exposed to the music of Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and various Moroccan rock bands.  “We were entranced by that sound,” Abdallah Alhousseini said.  “It’s not a sound used by the Touareg.  We decided to use the money we’d saved to buy these instruments and incorporate that into our sound, which enamored the people of the camp.  We’ve been together ever since.”      

            A peace accord in 1996 allowed many Touareg men to join the Malian army and start integrating into the country’s society, though many customs set them apart.  Touareg men often cover their faces in public, while the women go unveiled.  Women also play many of the Touareg’s traditional instruments, so the mostly male band Tinariwen’s instrumentation features guitars, hand percussion and vocals.  Most members of the group contribute to the repertoire, though composing is actually an informal community activity.  When the band isn’t performing, the members disperse throughout the region to their families in Algeria, Libya and Mali.

            “Each man goes on his own and starts creating new songs and shares it with friends and family,” Abdallah Alhousseini says.  “When the group gets back together, each person shares what we’ve created and we piece together.  It’s a very simple process because we all seem to compose the same ideas stylistically.  It’s like a puzzle we put together when we meet.”