African blues from Terakaft
I’ve lately been digging the drone-infused mesmerisms of Tinariwen, a collective whose members are drawn from the Tuareg people. The music, if you’re not already familiar with it, has a hallucinatory power, linked like second cousins to certain kinds of American blues, but still very strange and transporting.
The Tuaregs are a nomadic people, who lately have been drawn into conflicts all over North Africa. The members of Tinariwen, for instance, met when conscripted into Khaddafi’s army in Libya.
Terakaft takes two of its members from Tinariwen, guitarist Kedou ag Ossad and bass and guitar player Liya Ag Ablil, and adds two others Rhissa Ag Ogham and Sanou Ag Ahmed, both from Libya. They have a new-ish album out on World Village called Akh Issudar…and this wonderful video, shot at the Festival in the Desert in 2007.
Terakaft
Tinariwen
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