Tinariwen (Tamasheq: ⵜⵏⵔⵓⵏ; with vowels ⵜⵉⵏⴰⵔⵉⵡⵉⵏ; plural of ténéré meaning "desert"[1]) is a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of northern Mali. Considered pioneers of desert blues, the group's guitar-driven style combines traditional Tuareg and African music with Western rock music. They have released nine albums since their formation and have toured internationally.
The group was founded by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib; he and bandmates Alhassane Ag Touhami and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni have all been present since 1979.[2][3] Tinariwen first started to gain a following outside the Sahara region in 2001 with the release of the album The Radio Tisdas Sessions. Their most recent album Amatssou was released in 2023.
The group has been nominated for Grammy Awards three times, and their 2012 album Tassili won the award for Best World Music Album in 2012.[4]NPR calls the group "music's true rebels",[5]AllMusic deems the group's music "a grassroots voice of rebellion",[6] and Slate calls the group "rock 'n' roll rebels whose rebellion, for once, wasn't just metaphorical".[7]
Biography
Background
At four years old, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib witnessed the execution of his father, a Tuareg rebel, during a 1963 uprising in Mali.[8] After seeing a western film in which a cowboy played a guitar,[9] Ag Alhabib built his own guitar out of a "plastic water can, a stick and some fishing wire", according to future bandmate Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni.[10] During his childhood, Ag Alhabib lived in Algeria in refugee camps near Bordj Badji Mokhtar and in the deserts around the southern city of Tamanrasset, where he was given a guitar by an Algerian man, who also taught him how to play the Algerian way of the Tergui music.[11]
Later, Ag Alhabib resided in Algeria and Libya with other Tuareg exiles. He acquired his first real acoustic guitar in 1979.[12] During this period he formed a band with Alhassane Ag Touhami and brothers Inteyeden and Liya Ag Ablil[13] to play at parties and weddings.[14] While the group had no official name, people began to call them Kel Tinariwen, which in the Tamashek language translates as "The People of the Deserts" or "The Desert Boys".[15]
In 1980 Libyan ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi put out a decree inviting all young Tuareg men who were living illegally in Libya to receive full military training. Gaddafi dreamed of forming a Saharan regiment, made up of young Tuareg fighters, to further his territorial ambitions in Chad, Niger, and elsewhere in the region.[16] Ag Alhabib and his bandmates answered the call and received nine months of training.[17] During such exercises, the band met additional Tuareg musicians and formed a loosely-organized collective to create songs about the issues facing the Tuareg people.[9] They built a makeshift studio and vowed to record music for free for anyone who supplied a blank cassette tape. The resulting homemade cassettes were traded widely throughout the Sahara region.[18]
In 1989 the collective left Libya and moved to Ag Alhabib's home country of Mali, where he returned to his home village of Tessalit for the first time in 26 years.[19] In 1990 the Tuareg people of Mali revolted against the government, with some of the musicians of the collective participating as rebel fighters. After a peace agreement known as the Tamanrasset Accords was reached in January 1991, the musicians left the rebel movement and devoted themselves to music full-time.[20] In 1991, some members of Tinariwen went to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, to record a cassette at JBZ Studios and the album Kel Tinariwen was released later that year.[21] They played occasional gigs for far-flung Tuareg communities throughout the Sahara region, gaining word-of-mouth popularity among the Tuareg people.[citation needed]
1998–2009: International recognition
Ibrahim Ag Alhabib performing with Tinariwen in Vienna during 2011
In 1993, the Tuareg humanitarian Manny Ansar became the group's manager.[13] Ansar initially organized concerts for the collective in Bamako, until realizing that there was international demand for Tuareg music. Tinariwen was then organized as an official band with about a dozen named members.[22] In 1998, Tinariwen came to the attention of the French world music ensemble Lo'Jo and their manager Philippe Brix. That group traveled to a music festival in Bamako and met two members of the Tinariwen collective.[23] In 1999, some members of Tinariwen traveled to France and performed with Lo'Jo under the name Azawad.[24]
In 2001, Ansar organized the inaugural Festival au Désert in Tin Essako, Mali,[13][25] in collaboration with Lo'Jo and the Belgian Sfinks Festival, with Tinariwen headlining.[24][26] Their debut full-length album, The Radio Tisdas Sessions, was recorded by Justin Adams and Jean-Paul Romann at the radio station of the same name in Kidal, Mali (the only Tamashek-speaking station in the region) and released in 2001.[27] It was Tinariwen's first recording to be released outside of northern Africa.
Since 2001 Tinariwen have toured regularly in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Also since 2001 the collective has added several younger Tuareg musicians who did not live through the military conflicts experienced by the older members but have contributed to the collective's multi-generational evolution. Newer members include bassist Eyadou Ag Leche, percussionist Said Ag Ayad, guitarist Elaga Ag Hamid, and guitarist Abdallah Ag Lamida.[6]
In early 2012 there was another Tuareg rebellion in Tinariwen's home region of northern Mali, with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad declaring independence and forming the short-lived unrecognized state Azawad. Another party in the rebellion, the militant Islamist group Ansar Dine, denounced the presence of popular music in the territory,[43] and Tinariwen was targeted specifically during this campaign.[44] During this period, Tinariwen had scheduled a tour of Australia and New Zealand, but Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Elaga Al Hamid were not able to get out of Mali due to the conflict. Members of Lo'Jo joined the rest of Tinariwen on stage at the WOMADelaide festival.[26]
In a January 2013 confrontation with Ansar Dine militants, who had denounced Tinariwen and their music, Abdallah Ag Lamida was abducted while trying to save his guitars.[45][46] A few weeks later, Tinariwen reported that Ag Lamida had been released and was "safe and free".[47] During Ag Lamida's captivity, several other members of Tinariwen fled from the conflict and resettled temporarily in the southwestern United States to record their sixth album, Emmaar, with guests including Josh Klinghoffer, Fats Kaplin, Matt Sweeney, and Saul Williams. Recording took place at Joshua Tree National Park in California, which features a desert environment similar to that of Tinariwen's homeland.[48]Emmaar was released worldwide in 2014. Tinariwen then embarked on a tour of Europe and North America, but without group leader Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who decided to remain in Mali to attend to family issues caused by the latest political crisis. Bassist Eyadou Ag Leche assumed the role of musical director, and a new singer/guitarist named Iyad Abderrahmane was recruited to perform Ag Alhabib's parts during the tour.[49]
In 2016, the group returned to Joshua Tree National Park to record parts of their seventh album, Elwan, with additional recording in France and the remote settlement of M'Hamid El Ghizlane in southern Morocco (home of the Festival Taragalte).[50] The album was released in 2017 and featured guest appearances by Matt Sweeney, Kurt Vile, Mark Lanegan, and Alain Johannes.[51] Tinariwen then embarked on an American tour with Dengue Fever as support.[52] The group toured Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand through 2018, with another appearance at WOMADelaide.[53] After the international tour, Tinariwen were unable to return to their home area in northern Mali due to ongoing sectarian violence and threats from Islamist militants.[54] The group instead decamped in Morocco and embarked on a multi-month journey through Western Sahara and Mauritania, collaborating with local musicians at several stops along the way and writing songs while camped out in the desert.[55]
Tinariwen's sound is primarily guitar-driven, in the style known as assouf among the Tuareg people.[63] The group's guitar style has its roots in West African music[64] and other traditional styles practiced by the Tuareg and Berber peoples,[65][66] and has often been characterized as "desert blues".[67] Tinariwen was also influenced by traditional Malian musicians, most notably Ali Farka Touré,[68] and regional pop singers like Rabah Driassa.[11] While the Tinariwen style is possibly a distant relative of blues music, via West African music, members of Tinariwen claim to have never heard actual American blues music until they began to travel internationally in the early 2000s.[9][69] Tinariwen was also influenced by American and British rock acts whose bootlegged albums had made it to the Sahara region, such as Dire Straits,[70]Santana,[71]Led Zeppelin,[72]Bob Dylan,[73] and Jimi Hendrix.[69]
Tinariwen has been named as a formative influence on a growing Tuareg rock scene, made up of younger musicians who were not rebels like the members of Tinariwen but have experienced their region's recent struggles with poverty and terrorism.[64] The band Imarhan is led by Sadam Iyad Moussa Ben Abderamane, who has collaborated with Tinariwen and is the nephew of bassist Eyadu ag Leche.[64]Kel Assouf[64] and Tamikrest[74] have gained notice as younger Tuareg rock bands that cite Tinariwen as a fundamental influence. The band Terakaft also consists of several musicians who have played with Tinariwen.[22]
Band members
Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni performing with Tinariwen in Vienna during 2011
Tinariwen is a collective of singers, songwriters, and musicians who come together in different combinations to play concerts and to record. This is because of the nomadic lifestyle of the Tuareg people and the difficulties of transportation and communication in the Sahara region. The group rarely brings a consistent line-up on its international tours, though several members tour regularly.[49]
Active touring members
Ibrahim Ag Alhabib – guitar, vocals (founding member)
Alhassane Ag Touhami – guitar, vocals (founding member)
Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni – guitar, vocals (founding member)
