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CD Review: New Music: Tinariwen, Antelope, The Poison Arrows
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Audiversity, CD Review: New Music: Tinariwen, Antelope, The Poison Arrows >>
By: Mpardaiolo
Tinariwen - Imidiwan Winakalin (World Village 2007)
Tinariwen – Aman Iman: Water is Life / World Village
When you hear modern renditions of the blues, they just don't quite have the same emotional impact of recordings from the Delta bluesmen of the 40s. It's not that they aren't true to the characteristics of the genre or they lack the musical chops, but the emotional impact just does not parallel. It's been a good chunk of time since the majority of American blues men had something truly soul-stirring to be emoting with their rural twang and heartfelt, down-trodden lyrics. Now if we leave the muggy swamps of the Delta and head across the Atlantic to the desolate plains of the Sahara I bet we can find a few people who truly have the blues.
"I was walking down the street in Tessalit when I saw two of my friends being bundled into the back of a police vehicle," he recalls. "So I immediately returned to Algeria. Whilst on my way back, I heard that Iyad Ag Ghali had begun the rebellion, which was in progress by the time I returned. I joined them, living in the hills, attacking convoys and so on." It was during this time that the great legend of Tinariwen – involving them riding into battle with Kalashnikovs in their hands and Stratocasters across their backs – was first coined. All true, he confirms. – "Riders on the Storm" -Andy Gill, The Word (UK)
Watching friends disappear without a shred of hope for their return, kamikaze-like attacks on passing convoys, attempting to change a society built on archaic feudal hierarchies, living in the unfriendly and desolate wasteland of the Sahara; yeah, I'd say the Tuareg group known as Tinariwen has the blues. Hell, even their band name means "empty places.
"Formed in the aforementioned rebel camps of Colonel Ghadaffi, a Libyan strongman, in the Western Sahara, group leader Ibrahim Ag Housseyni, who is said to resemble a mesh of Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana physically and spiritually, and his cast of nomadic band members travel the Sahara playing for fellow nomads and whoever else cares to listen. Appropriately called Tishoumaren or "the music of the unemployed," Tinariwen's music parallels the ethos of blues, reggae and punk's early days, a rebellion against the masses, music for revolutionary change, music for political awakening. They have been developing this style for upwards of 25 years though, so the message has been considerably softened, or perhaps waned is the better word. Not that they have stopped fighting for their beliefs, but the subject material has widened to include traveling, love, friends and the unparalleled life of the desert. Aman Iman: Water is Life could be called their third proper album; 2001's The Radio Tisdas Sessions and 2004's Amassakoul have been banned in Algeria and their home country of Mali, but are thankfully available to Western audiences.
Now if the back-story was not intriguing enough, we get to the fantastic music. You will immediately recognize it as the blues, but this is a whole new derivative of the genre. The obvious reference points are going to be "the African John Lee Hooker," Ali Farka Touré, or even Pakistan's Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, but we are definitely dealing within a secluded niche. Gone are the traditional lutes of Middle Eastern and North African music and in their place guitars and more electric guitars. In fact, Tinariwen have four guitarists who rotate taking the lead while the others weave in and out with a mixture of bluesy rhythmic chops and the quick elliptical curlicues heard in so much Middle Eastern music. But as compared to most music from that region you have probably heard, the tempo is significantly slowed down; it grooves along on that Western African pace that guarantees head nodding if not some relaxed dancing. The hypnotic circle of guitars usually constructed in five-tone scales is supported rhythmically by a slew of handclaps and traditional percussion like the djembe hand drum and the rattling shekere. The call-and-response vocals and shrill ululations hark back to traditional music,and the sinuous and smooth lead vocals sung in French and Tamashek acts as an instrument in its own right. Nothing is rushed and the results sound more like a jam session than anything else. If you close your eyes and concentrate, you can easily picture yourself surrounded by the musicians sitting under the ancient Saharan night sky.
Aman Iman is a mesmerizing album that I guarantee will have you reaching for the repeat button on numerous occasions. Hypnotic, psychedelic and exotic, Tinariwen is probably playing the truest form of blues in modern music. As opposed to just about any contemporary musician, they play because they have to play; it's just their way of life. In recent years, the group has gained a significant amount of attention and has performed at a number of festivals around the world from the Festival International in Lafayette, Louisiana to Le festival au Désert in Tin-Essako, Mali, a remote region of the Sahara Desert. They live the life of a true nomadic musician, completely homeless, practically outlawed in their home country and performing for revolutionary change. Tinariwen is the blues. 03/20/07 >> go there
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