It’s hard to find a hip rock band that doesn’t name “Afrobeat” as an influence. Vampire Weekend hit No. 1 on Billboard. So call it a sign of the times that African institution Tinariwen is finally playing to audiences increasingly familiar with its repertoire. The long-running group of desert nomads has been weaving its signature guitar drones for more than 30 years, but only in the last few has it established itself stateside; this is its third visit in as many years.

A perpetually revolving collective of Tuareg musicians who call the Sahara Desert home, Tinariwen was cofounded by guitarist-singer Ibrahim Ag Alhabib—the face of the group and easily the most identifiable with his unruly mane of curls. Singing in his native Tamashek, the former freedom fighter sews African and Arabic influences into the ensemble’s hypnotic electric-guitar blues, a meditative and profoundly spiritual composite. There’s an innate sense of companionship in the music, culminating in Imidiwan, 2009’s album and DVD set.

While in that stunning record you can hear sand blowing against the amps, this visit offers fans a rare chance for even closer interaction. With Old Town faculty, including instructor and six-string whiz Nathaniel Braddock of the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, an epic jam follows workshops on both guitar and djembe. Yeah, it might sound dangerously close to a drum-circle cliché, but the tutorial is a hell of a lot cheaper than a plane ticket to North Africa.

Old Town School of Folk Music; Sat 27, Sun 28