http://afropopshop.org/New Music From Tinariwen on Calabash Music2008-07-24T09:46:06ZThe Calabash Music Teamsupport@calabashmusic.comAman Iman: Water Is Lifehttp://tinariwen.afropopshop.org/#album_847362006-12-12T07:40:55ZMusic from Aman Iman: Water Is LifeTinariwen’s songs, almost always constructed over five-tone scales and wreathed in handclaps, are propelled by icy-hot guitars over sinuous French and Tamashek vocals. The material sometimes contains recollections of other Malian luminaries, such as Amadou and Mariam, Habib Koité, Oumou Sangaré, and the late Ali Farka Touré, plus New World descendants like Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and untold generations of Delta bluesmen. Their lyrics speak of drought and displacement, deceased heroes, and assouf, which like Brazilian saudade can mean longing, nostalgia, and love of home, but also a desert-dweller’s bone-deep craving for open wilderness and solitude. The third tune, Matajem Yinmixan (“Why All This Hate Between You?”), even harbors tantalizing echoes of European troubadour music, which after all evolved from some of the same ancient Muslim sources. On Ahimana (“Oh My Soul”), original founding member Mohammed Ag Itlale (aka “Japonais”), a renowned poet, interprets a style more usually performed by women, paradoxically with no loss of masculinity. Throughout, rangy, cloaked pickers are flanked by a female chorus whose hand drums are spiked by sharp, off-center clapping, shrill ululations, and fervent responses to the men’s singing. Together, they goad one another to heights of fervent experimentation while basking amid hallowed folkways.]]>Amassakoulhttp://tinariwen.afropopshop.org/#album_635642006-12-12T07:40:55ZMusic from AmassakoulMusic and poetry often cross paths with war. For the Tuaregs, poetry has long been a symbolic expression of the pain and suffering of war, just as their sword dances are a choreographic representations of real battles. With camel culture close to extinction and the Malian peace accords of 1992 providing only token relief from years of conflict, the songs of Tinariwen mourn the passing of the golden age of the Saharan tribes, while endeavoring to map out a future for the generations who must survive beyond it and live in the modern world. Before Tinariwen, the idea of a group didn’t even exist in the southern Sahara. There were only impromptu bands who would get together for the usual joyous gatherings in camps or oases. Seeing their potential, Tuareg political figure Iyad Ag Ghali financed the acquisition of guitars and amps for the group, and in turn used some of their songs as propaganda tools during the rebellion of the 1990s. Tinariwen's first CD for World Village, The Radio Tisdas Sessions, was recorded with the help of solar energy in the studios of Radio Tisdas, the Tuareg station of Kidal. Acclaim for the album rocketed the group to the top ranks of African bands and the top 10 lists of some of the world's most respected critics. Even though the music of Tinariwen's new CD, Amassakoul, was recorded in a modern studio, their bewitching rhythms and passionate words lose none of their power. Tinariwen's lyrics all possess that texture of something crucial, essential and honest. They are all the fruit of distress and of a hope greater than the person who expresses it, the hope of an entire community that it might once again discover its true values.]]>The Radio Tisdas Sessionshttp://tinariwen.afropopshop.org/#album_635762006-12-12T07:40:55ZMusic from The Radio Tisdas SessionsOut of the desert comes Tinariwen, a band of nomads with electric guitars. The Kel Tamashek, as the Touareg refer to themselves, fiercely resisted the French and the Malian government. The Tinariwen sound emerged when members were in exile in Libya listening to Bob Marley and John Lennon. They decided to apply their traditional music to the electric guitar and became the musical mouthpiece of the Touareg independence movement. Reminiscent of Ali Farke Touré, this raw desert recording was produced by France’s global troubadours Lo’Jo and guitarist Justin Adams (of Jah Wobble & Sinead O’ Connor fame).]]>