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CD Interview
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NPR The World, CD Interview >>
-by Marco Werman
It's fair to say rock musicians are in it for the glory. Okay, maybe the money too... But they all want to be the headliners at a concert. No one wants to be the opening act for another band. Unless of course, the invitation comes from the Rolling Stones. That's just what a group of Malian artists recently received. The World's Marco Werman explains.
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What came first: the stone or the sand? The stone would be the Rolling Stones. The sand would be the desert musicians in the Malian band Tinariwen. They may seem a world apart. But they're a lot closer than you think. Here's the Rolling Stones, a tune called "Moonlight Mile" from their album Sticky Fingers. Tinariwen's management announced today that the band will open for the Rolling Stones on August 18 at Slane Castle in Ireland. You can hear that the two acts are sonically natural allies. But when you open for the Stones, you have to do more than just open. You have to create the vibe that will put the world's hardest working rock act in the groove. The Rolling Stones don't ask just anyone to open the show for them. The supporting acts have got to have grit and energy: Tina Turner, the Strokes, and Bobby Womack for example have all opened for the Stones. Tinariwen brings grit and energy...and more.
Morgan: Tinariwen has also got that strong bluesy element, which is also very much the root ofthe Stones as well.
That's Tinariwen's manager Andy Morgan. He knows that opening for the Stones will be excellent publicity for the band. But he says Tinariwen is also a logical choice.
Morgan: I think it makes total sense to me. I hope that doesn't sound too arrogant. But the Stones have always had this fascination with music from Africa, especially North Africa. You know, everybody knows about the whole Brian Jones in Morocco experience, in the mid-60s, and they've been back there since then. And I remember when I was working for the WOMAD organization in the early 90s, they invited a great drummer from Senegal called Dudu N'diaye Rose to support them at Wembley Stadium in London. So they've obviously got this abiding love of African music.
Andy Morgan is a little nervous about Tinariwen playing in front of 65,000 people. It'll be the band's biggest concert ever, by a longshot. But these musicians are veterans of a civil conflict in Mali. And to paraphrase Cuban-born baseball player Orlando Hernandez when he was asked whether he was nervous about pitching in his first world series... I swam in shark infested waters to get here, he replied. Why should I be scared? Tinariwen will knock the show out of the park. The Rolling Stones better bring their A game to Slane Castle. Otherwise Tinariwen will be the headliner. For The World, I'm Marco Werman.
To Hear The Interview Follow The Go There Link 05/01/07 >> go there
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