|
|
 |
Concert Review
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Cafe Aman (blog), Concert Review >>
Cafe Aman
The online home of the classical music columnist for Billboad Magazine, North American section editor of Gramaphone Magazine, and musical omnivore.
I went to see Tinariwen at the Highline Ballroom last night. Only four members of the band were there. Now, Tinariwen's membership has always been pretty fluid (on any given tour, it always seems like someone is absent due to some personal/familial circumstance or other). This time out, Ibrahim wasn't there, nor was Japonais (at least if my poor eyes & lack of height didn't do me wrong from the back of the hall), nor were the girls. In their combined absence, the sound of the band was completely different and even leaner than usual.
Still, a great time was clearly had by all, at least in the (utterly packed) audience. Their songs still get under your nails and into your system just as surely as the fine grit of the Sahara does, and those rhythms inspired by the camel's gait get a crowd going equally well in midtown as among the sloping sands of Essakane. And while I am unendingly grateful that the band no longer punctuates the end of each and every song with a cheery bellowing of "Welcome to the desert!" the way they did on their first American tour (clearly, the one phrase in English that had been memorized), their demeanor this time around had a "Remind us how many more dates do we have to knock off again before we get to go home?" cast that I found slightly depressing. Maybe I just need to go see them in Tamashek territory again instead of out on the road. (Clearly, I'm looking for excuses to go back to Mali.)
--Anastasia Tsioulcas 11/28/07 >> go there
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
