Between acoustic riffs and choruses around the campfire, the pioneers of Tuareg music celebrate their roots with fervor.
The rock, weather-worn by time, reemerges in the arid landscape. At the foot of the Hoggar mountain range, one of the most important ranges of the central Sahara, in the south of Algeria, lies Tamanrasset, the capital of Algerian Tuareg people. It is here that Tinariwen began making music in 1982, when they were refugees. And, for the first time, the pioneers of Tuareg music recorded an album in this city, named Hoggar as an obvious choice.
The group, usually anchored in desert zones at the edges of Algeria and Mali, was forced to relocate its creative spaces due to conflicts. Down-to-earth, and far from the previous Amatssou (2023), Tinariwen returns to its roots, promoting acoustic guitars (Amidinim Ehaf Solan) and choirs (Asstaghfero Allah), sometimes featuring female voices — on the sublime Tad Adounya —, sheltered by the warmth of the campfire.
“A Call to Memory and to Conscience”
Composed with the collaboration of Imarhan, another Algerian Tuareg group founded, this time, in 2006, Hoggar gathers joy and a collective spirit within a strong political commitment. On the release of Imidiwan Takyadam, one of the flagship songs recorded alongside the excellent Swedish guitarist José González, Ibrahim ag Alhabib, one of Tinariwen’s founders, stated: “It speaks of our people scattered across distant lands, gradually losing the threads of their culture and their ancestral heritage. It’s a call to memory and to conscience.”
Hoggar (Warp/Kuroneko). Out on March 13. In concert at the Cirque d’Hiver, Paris, on May 8 and 9.
