What better music could you to take with you to a desert island than some excellent desert blues?.. I just love Tinariwen. Their story is a fascinating one, nomadic tribesmen.., Ghaddafi’s poet soldiers going into battle with a guitar strapped over one shoulder and a Kalashnikov over the other…, one of them is reputed to have seventeen bullet wounds…, the stuff of legend. How much of the myth is true I have no idea but their’s is a great story. I’ve become a huge fan of their music.
The members of Tinariwen are Tuaregs, the Kel Tamashek… the Blue Men of the Sahara, desert traders who shift their merchandise across the vast desert plains on camel caravans. They live around the Mali region of North Africa, and that part of the world is fast becoming a hotbed of new music. Tinariwen are reputed to be the first of these emerging Mali bands to use electric guitars and now they play to worldwide audiences, even supporting the Rolling Stones last year.
The two songs I’d have in my desert island collection are brilliant, completely different to the music that I grew up with, or is it?… it’s definately blues music, but with a very distinctive eastern feel to it. The other thing is that I have no idea what they’re singing about… bit of a language barrier there I’m afraid, but not to worry because the music is good.., very good. The first one is Matadjem Yinmixan… I can spell it but can’t pronounce it, but that’s the beauty of world music… and I sing along to the words without having a clue what they mean.. you just pick it up.
The second is Amassakoul’N'Tenere, real foot tappin’ stuff.
If you’ve never heard of Tinariwen before look them up on the internet, there are some good Tinariwen videos on YouTube, and the story of the band and their culture is interesting to say the least. Real desert blues for a desert island disco…. perfect.
