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Sample Track 1:
"Amassakoul 'n' Ténéré" from Amassakoul
Sample Track 2:
"Chatma" from Amassakoul
Sample Track 3:
"Chet Boghassa" from Amassakoul
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Amassakoul
Layer 2
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Tinariwen
Amassakoul (World Village)

Tinariwen are from Mali. They're semi-nomadic Tuaregs of the Sahara, but that hasn't kept them from soaking up American blues, rock and hip-hop. They channel it out in call-and-response group sing-alongs draped with curling guitar lines, hypnotic click-clacking percussion and steady handclapping. There's not much in the way of verse-chorus-bridge here. Gritty guitar scribbles and sinuous vocal lines dance around each other. Relentless syncopation evokes the pulse of reggae; arid modal bluesiness conjures connections to John Lee Hooker and Ali Farka Toure. Expect no sappy world-music cliches here.

John Adamian
 12/23/05
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