Intro to Tuareg rock
18 songs, 1h17m. Featuring Ali Farka Touré, Vieux Farka Touré, Tinariwen, Boubacar Traoré, and more.
This particular niche genre goes by many names: Tuareg rock, desert blues, Amazigh Blues, Saharan rock, Tishoumaren. It is played by several ethnic groups with nomadic lifestyles mostly in the western half of the Sahara.
It’s not unlike the Ethiopian Tezeta in terms of its blues sound and the guitar at the centre, though they originate from opposite sides of Africa. Its overall vibe is less nostalgic than the Tezeta; it’s fiercer and more upbeat, often composed in the face of war and rebellion. The way ancient traditions mix with modern tech got me really hooked when I first heard this music. When I heard it next, it reminded me of the American blues and soul. You cannot not hear the similarities and wonder if this is how the delta blues started.
Tinariwen are a band who have pioneered blending traditional African tunes with the sound of the modern electric guitar. This innovation put Tinariwen’s members on the global stage, bringing attention to their virtuoso playing, their Tuareg and Berber traditions, and some of their contemporary challenges — more about which in this short documentary. A lot of songs by Tinariwen nomadic portray life in the Sahara, like Nànnuflày:
Ali Farka Touré is another guitarist famous for blending traditional Malian sounds and string instruments (such as the n’goni and the kora) with electric guitars, and for playing circular melodies in the structure of blues and rock. His son Vieux Farka Touré followed in his footsteps and is taking his musical career forward. He reveals some of his tricks to his signature sound in this video.
Another father-son duo from Mali featured in the playlist are Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté. They both play the traditional kora, which sort of sounds like a harp with its 21 strings.
Duna ma yelema, a song by Boubacar Traoré (Ali Farka Touré’s collaborator and another guitar player from Mali!) is a soulful piece of wisdom about the tides of history. The words in the looping verse translate to ‘The world [itself] doesn’t change, people change [in it]’.
I’ve also come across this track on the IG page Archive of Africa, whose riff I can’t get out of my head:
This post is part of my series, Introduction to niche genres. Previously I’ve covered Falafel Jazz and Tezeta.
Just listening to it now, really cool set as usual :-) Somehow, there's always in you playlists at least a tiny bit that I know of (Toumani Diabeté, in this case), and a whole lot to discover!!