Desert Blues Travelers
Chris Kompanek


TERAKAFT GIVES NEW meaning to the term desert blues. Based in Mali, with its members hailing from several war torn countries in the Middle East, the group uses the age-old blues structure to express their own strife in a way that energizes rather than deflates. A lot of this has to do with the band’s driving bass lines. They lay the ground for the intensity to follow while pulsing through the hearts of their listeners.

Founded a decade ago by Sanou Ag Ahmed with friends and relatives, Terakaft exudes a tight nit sound of people who know each other so well that they can anticipate each other’s thoughts. This innate ability for interplay lets the songs float out of a defined structure and become a spirit for uprising, change, and just about anything we can imagine.

The opening track of their new album, Aratan N Azawad, “Alghalem”, balances a heavy blues-rock riff with a rockabilly rhythm. You don’t know whether to dig your feet in for a heavy groove or let it sway you in movement. In all the excitement, it’s easy to forget that lyrics are not in English. Their incantation makes sense on an emotional and visceral level, and in the moment, that’s enough. On “Akoz Imgharen”, the group explores the lighter side of blues, so light in fact it brings to mind a conga line on a tropical island.

Throughout the album, the vocals have a chantlike quality that’s punctuated nicely with the driving guitar of Sanou’s Uncle, Liya Ag Ablil (aka Diara), whose rock sensibility informs his interpretation of not just the ancient chants but also the blues backbone. Diara now leads the band and is said to be responsible for the pop influences on the group.