|
|
 |
Feature/Concert Preview
|
| Click Here to go back. |
San Diego Union Tribune, Feature/Concert Preview >>
There are more than a dozen ords for camel in the language of the Kel Tamashek people, a reflection of the countless generations they spent as nomads living in the expanse of the Sahara Desert.
But the beasts of burden are no longer central to the Tamashek (who are also known as Tuaregs), as devastating drought, military campaigns and political turmoil have forced them to settle in towns in Algeria, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Libya, where they used to roam free.
Tinariwen, a Tuareg 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. The group's last album, “Amassakoul” (World Village), was a European hit, hovering near the top of the World Music charts. The band performs at UC San Diego's Price Center Ballroom tomorrow in a concert presented by ArtPower!
“It's a very difficult reality right now, because the Tamashek people can no longer be nomads,” said 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 we've been forced to become more centralized around cities, and have had to learn how to become politicians and business people and become integrated into modern life.
“Unfortunately that's not where our soul is,” Alhousseini said. “Many of us 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 the hope of returning to our nomadic ways. Ishumar means nostalgia for the desert, it's about reconnecting with the nomadic soul.”
Also on the program is the powerful vocalist Ramatou Diakite from Mali's creatively fertile Wassoulou region, which has produced such brilliant female vocalists as Oumou Sangare, Sali Sidibe and Coumba Sidibe (no relation). She first gained attention in the West through her ravishing collaboration with bluesman Taj Mahal and Malian cora master Toumani Diabate on the 1999 album “Kulanjan” (Rykodisc).
“My family is in our village,” Diakite said in a recent phone interview. “They don't have money, they don't have food, they don't have anything. We are a poor country, and I want to help my family, and that's why I sing.”
The band Tinariwen started gaining widespread notice in the West with Mali's the Festival in the Desert. First held in 2001, the festival on the southeastern edge of the Sahara piggybacked on a large traditional Tuareg conclave, where the widely scattered people gather 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. Music became a vehicle for publicizing the Tuareg's plight.
Tinariwen came together in a military camp in Libya in the mid-1980s, where they were exposed to the music of Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Moroccan rock bands.
“We were entranced by that sound,” Alhousseini said. “It's not a sound used by the Tuareg. 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.” 04/13/06 >> go there
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
