This year, the Radio 3 awards have top-quality artists among their nominations. There, in the Africa section, is Tinariwen, a band of nomadic Touareg, the Saharan people who found themselves persecuted by the Malian government in the 1980s. Many sought refuge in Libya where Muammar Gadafy helped to train them in guerrilla tactics. While in their barracks, they heard rock'n'roll and invented their own desert blues. As warrior rockers, it is said that they went into battle against the Malian army with guns and electric guitars. Now, in more peaceful times, they play Womad in Reading. Rebel music doesn't come much more potent than that.

-Mark Espiner