Tinariwen’s music speaks for Kel Tamashek, the Tuaregs, and their desert home, the “tenere.” Formed in 1979, the group's latest LP (Emmaar) is a continuation of Tinariwen’s rhythmic, and at times incredibly psychedelic, Saharan desert blues. Unlike previous output, the new album was recorded in the U.S., specifically Joshua Tree, California -- the dusty cradle of “cosmic” American music -- due to violent political instability in the band’s home in Northern Mali.
A return to form following their previous (mostly) acoustic album,Tassili, Emmaar is a heady, droning, affair aided and abetted by guitarist Matt Sweeney and the Nashvillian multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplan. The group is presently wrapping up a US tour before heading to Europe. See them live. You'll thank me later.Debut of the new video for "Chaghaybou", off the Emmaar LP, directed by Antoine Carlier.
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