Tinariwen

Tinariwen (Tamashek: ⵜⵏⵔⵓⵏ "empty places") is a musical band formed in 1982 in Muammar al-Gaddafi's camps of Tuareg rebels. They play in the Tishoumaren ("music of the unemployed") style, and sing mostly in the French and Tamashek languages. Their songs mostly cover the subject of independence for their people from the government of Mali. They are said to be the first Tuareg band to use electric guitars.

Having recorded many albums available on cassette over their eighteen years, the group recorded their first album for the CD format in December 2000; the album was known as "The Radio Tisdas Sessions" and was their first recording available outside of Africa.

The Western world first took great notice of Tinariwen due to their performance at Le Festival au Désert, a musical festival held in Tin-Essako, Mali, a remote region of the Sahara Desert, in January 2001.

The band released a second album, "Amassakoul" ("Traveller") in 2004, and played concerts in Europe (where they performed one of the highlights of the 2004 Womad Reading ) and the United States to support the album.

Tinariwen's new album entitled "Aman Iman", meaning "Water is Life", was released in February 2007. A 52 minute documentary called "Teshumara, or the guitars of the revolution" recently played in movie theaters in Europe. It tells the history of the Tuareg rebellion and the role played by Tinariwen in this struggle for freedom. Combined with "Amassakoul", it has been released as the CD/DVD combo "The Soul Rebel Of African Desert".

They have met great resistance from rock radio and press unable to embrace a non-English speaking act, but have forged a career playing world music festivals. At times, the band feels that their music is underappreciated despite the fact that they have been doing many interviews with the media in recent years. [cite web|url=http://music.aol.ca/article/Tinariwen/259/|title=Tinariwen’s Rock Of Ages|accessdate=November|accessyear=2007]

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Chris Martin cited Tinariwen as having a great influence on Coldplay's 2008 album, "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends".

Band Members

*Ibrahim - guitarist, vocalist
*Kiddou - guitarist, vocalist
*Mohammed "Japonais" - guitarist, vocalist
*Foy Foy - guitarist, vocalist
*Abdallah "catastrophe" - äcoustic guitarist, bassist, vocalist
*Hassan - guitarist, percussionist, vocalist
*Seyid - percussionist
*Mina - chorus vocalist
*Anini - chorus vocalist
*Bogness - chorus vocalist
*Eyadou - bassist, vocalist

Discography

* The Radio Tisdas Sessions (Album, 2002)
* Amassakoul (Album, 2004)
* Aman Iman (Album, 2007)

International Performances

* 2007 March - Featured guests on BBC World's the Beat.
May - Appeared on 'Later with Jools Holland' on the BBC
June 24 - Glastonbury Festival in England
August 8 Øyafestivalen in Oslo, Norway
August 9 - Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary
August 17 - the group performed at Lowlands (music festival) (Biddinghuizen, Netherlands) as replacements for Lily Allen.
August 18 - the group opened for the Rolling Stones at Slane Castle, County Meath, Ireland.
November 8 - performed at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC with Vieux Farka Toure.
November 27 - performed at the Highline Ballroom in New York City.
November 28 - performed at Other Music in New York City, produced by DigForFire.tv.
* 2006April - Festival International in Lafayette, Louisiana

* 2005
The Big Chill (music festival) in England

Roskilde Festival in Denmark

Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, New York

Chicago Folk & Roots Festival

Cambridge Folk Festival in England
"LIVE 8: Africa Calling" held at the Eden Project, Cornwall.
UK African Soul Rebel Tour

References

External links

* [http://www.tinariwen.com/ Official Tinariwen site]
* [http://www.fly.co.uk/fly/archives/africamiddle_east_features/tinariwen_the_camels_back.html Feature on Tinariwen in Fly | Global Music Culture]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/flykr/tags/tinariwen/ Images of Tinariwen in Mali and UK]
* [http://www.myspace.com/tinariwenofficial Tinariwen MySpace Site]
* [http://digital.othermusic.com/wp/?p=431 Tinariwen live at Other Music]

ee also

* Global Rhythm