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CD Review
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Dirty Linen, CD Review >>
TINARIWEN , Amassakoul
World Village 468026 (2003}
Let's get straight to the point. Tinariwen is one of the freshest- sounding albums of blues/rock/Malian music (take your pick) in. some time. The very image of the nine-member band (actually it's more often seven members), decked out in desert robes, several of them holding electric guitars, is visually appealing. The music, born out of political struggle, confirms the initial photogenic impression that this is a highly original and riveting band. As key founders of the Festival in the Desert, these displaced members of the Tuareg desert clan of Saharan nomads sing in Tamashek, although one song on Amassakoul, the group's second album, is sung partly in French. Comparisons with the great Ali Farka Toure are inevitable, but Tinariwen take the Toure sound further and have a fuller sound.
"Amassakoul 'n' Tenere," the lead-off track, is about traveling in the desert and sets the mood with a hypnotic groove that's propelled by a loping guitar and rich call-and-response vocals. "Arawan" is an intriguing attempt at mixing a quasi-rap song with ululating female vocals. "Tenere Dafed Nikchan," the only track recorded in England rather than in Mali, features a single member on vocals, guitar, and flute performing a stark and stunning song about being in the sand dunes with wood fire, The melancholy mood evokes the sense of solitude that the place imposes on those who dare trespass on its terrain. Most of the tracks feature sharp, jabbing electric guitar that is supported by light percussion, and a chorus of background male and female vocalists who often sing in unison. The album practically brings to mind the image of camels approaching in the distance.
Paul-Emile Comeau (Comewvilie, NS, Canada) 02/01/05
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