Tamikrest – Assikel (Glitterbeat, 2026)
Assikel came out this year, two decades after Tamikrest emerged from Tinzawaten, near the Mali-Algeria border. The album’s title means “voyage” in Tamasheq. The songs relate to familiar topics such as exile, ancestral memory and a homeland scarred by military rule and violence.
Recorded live to 16-track analog tape, Assikel feels organic with smoldering blues-rock guitars, calabash, percussion, and lap steel that give Assikel a dusty, defiant feel beneath Ousmane Ag Mossa’s grave voice.
“Adagh Oyanted” guards the mountains of northern Mali against exploitation, while “Aiytma” turns solidarity into quiet resolve. Most affecting is “Adounia,” a tribute to the late Tinariwen musician Mohammed Ag Itlale with a highly emotional moment when his home-recorded voice appears at the close.
Assikel understands assuf, the Tamasheq (Tuareg) ache of absence, longing, and homesickness.
Musicians: Ousmane Ag Mossa on lead vocals, electric & acoustic guitar; Cheikh Ag Tiglia on bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, jembe, percussion; Paul Salvagnac on electric guitar, lapsteel, dobro, tumba tumba; and Cédric Momo Maurel on calabash, dhol, bendir, tumba tumba, jembe, tube.
Buy Assikel.
Author: Madison Quinn
