16:30 - 17:30
Sean Rafferty presents a selection of music and guests from the arts world.
   TINARIWEN (Mali) Aman Iman  No other “world music” release in 2007 has generated the publicity surrounding Tinariwen’s third album Aman Iman (Water Is Life). Tinariwen’s admirers are legion and include those original blues rockers, The Rolling Stones, who invited the Malian desert blues band to support them at two massive outdoor concerts in Ireland this summer. Tinariwen rose to the challenge while admitting they weren’t sure exactly who The Rolling Stones were! Tinariwen consist of seven core members based around the mercurial guitar playing talent of Ibrahim Ag Aihabib. They are all Touareg – the nomadic people of the southern Sahara – whose existence for thousands of years was shaped by extreme heat and desert terrain. When Mali won its independence from France in 1960 conflict arose between the new government and the Touareg – these wayward wanderers respected neither borders nor the law of strangers, only the wind, the stars and the politics of tribe, trade and water – thus the Malian government declared war on the desert nomads and much chaos followed. While exiled in Libya Touareg youth were exposed to sounds from the West and Arabia so invented a new music, based on traditional Touareg melodies and rhythms yet played on electric instruments. When peace was brokered in the 1990s the Touareg returned home and Tinariwen formed. Tinariwen achieved international prominence when they hosted Festival in the Desert in 2001, a now annual event that attracts fans from across the globe to the Sahara. Tinariwen’s debut album, 2001’s The Radio Tisdas Sessions, is a raw masterpiece, its droning electric guitars and trance atmosphere leading to it being celebrated as “stone age rock’n’roll”. Amassakoul, Tinariwen’s second CD, was released in 2004. Superbly produced by British guitarist Justin Adams (often found in Robert Plant’s band and a nominee for his own Culture Crossing project this year), Amassakoul won Tinariwen accolades from critics and a large audience. This lead to the band being signed to Independiente – the British label home to the likes of Paul Weller and Travis – and winning over audiences at festivals from Glastonbury to Roskilde. For Aman Iman (Water Is Life) Adams again worked as producer. The resulting album captures what is now called “desert blues” in all its intensity and soulful beauty. Garth Cartwright www.tinariwen.com www.independiente.co.uk Read other people's comments then  Tell us what you think:BrandMover, Sofia Basir, Glasgow Norma Tenbury Wells omar mohamed alma life in libya Ricardo, London Mark, Lake District | | |
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