THE DESERT ALIVE
Amanlman (Water Is Life)
Tinariwen

World Village
-Edward Ortiz, Bee arts critic

The image on the cover of this sensational CD says it all: a North African with an untamed Afro standing in front of a band of musicians in kaftans, all wielding electric guitars. It's electric guitar cool meets the unapologetic poise of the Sahara-based Touareg tribe. And the result is strikingly original roots music of a highly melodic nature.

Called Tinariwen, this band of musicians is fronted by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, whose Afro and hard-scrabble looks belay the hardship of desert living. He looks like what Jimi Hendrix would - had he gone native and disappeared into the wilds of the northern Sahara.

Like Hendrix, Alhabib owns a guitar style all his own. The sound that he crafts on his Danelectro guitar recalls the no-nonsense growl of Mississippi Delta blues one moment, the gritty attack of Bo Diddley another.

But make no mistake, this music is intensely North African. It's music with a hypnotic yet bouncy African groove sung in a blend of French and Tamashek dialect, with the backing of a female chorus that uses hand drums and clapping to bewitching effect. And though Alhabib's lead vocals are entrancing, it's his guitar playing, always a servant to this music, that sends chills down the spine.

On the super-rhythmic "Tamanat Tilay," Alhabib scorches through a fuzzy guitar lick that is taken up by his sinuous vocals and the punchy chorus. On the dance-inducing "Cler Achel," Alhabib's guitar playing is playful and flickering with a ghostlike reverb quality. Like many of the CD's tracks, the music is so infectious and full of joy that it's hard to believe that what's being sung is about the mortal coil of longing and quashed rebellion of a tribe that calls the mighty Sahara home.