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Vintage Guitar, Feature >>
Tinariwen
Amassakoul
WorldVillage
Take a John Lee Hooker boogie, bake it in the Saharan sun, add call-and-re- spond chants in Tamahaq language, and the result is the intense, hypnotic blues of Tinariwen.
This ensemble is made up of Touareg men from the African country of Mali. For centuries, they were fierce warriors who ruled the Sahara with merciless swords, battling the French Foreign Legion and its bureaucratic colonizers, raisingcamels,androamingthroughout North Africa. Today, their swords have been sheathed and their wandering largely settled by the ruling Algerian and Malian governments.
Yet the centuries-old signature song styles of the Touareg live on with Ti- nariwen. Trading their classic acoustic instruments for electric guitars, basses, and drums, their sound is hotrodded for A modern era. Yet, the call-and-respond singing in their native language of Tamahaq keeps the old spirit alive.
Like African blues artist Ali Farka Toure, this is, at its heart, guitar music. With three guitars churning out hyp notizing boogies, Tinariwen may be the Sahara's answer to Lynyrd Skynryd, without the solos; instead, the message is the driving beat, ostinato riffs, and the mesmerizing sound.
Seeing Tinariwcn live in concert is transporting. The band takes the stage wrapped in robes, turbans, and scarves covering their faces (among the Touareg, the men wear face scarves, not the women). And when they get their groove going and the band members sway to the beat, their robes move like Saharan sand. - Michael Dregni 07/01/06
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