Artist Profiles: Desert Blues Band Tinariwen

Tinariwen (originally Taghreft Tinariwen, or “edification of the lands”) became known for vocalizing the political plight of endangered nomads. Their music spoke to the Tuareg or Kel Tamashek, appealing for a political awakening of consciousness.

For a century, the tribes of the southern Sahara searched the barren landscape for every weapon available to maintain hope in the midst of ethnic cleansing and public executions. With the dawn of the 21st Century, the Kel Tamashek turned to the global circuit. Musicians are the modern warriors. And lyrics have changed to focus on suffering, love, and hope. A Tinariwen song claims, “If I could sing so that those in London could hear, then the whole world would hear my song.”

Although Tinariwen formed in 1982, they remained underground (Mali and Algeria banned the political lyrics) until the group moved to the Malian capital of Bamako in 1999. There, the ten members drew on a rebel rock sensibility, openly playing their passionate, trance-like Desert Blues. During the first eclipse (and first full moon) of the millennium, Tinariwen performed at The Festival in the Desert. Staged near the ancient ruins of Tamaradant, remote and distant from any visible life, the Festival was an effort to further goals of reconciliation, development, and international awareness.

Reporter Andy Morgan asserted that Tinariwen’s soulful music produced a magical effect on the crowd, causing “the young Tuaregs to stamp and dance with abandon in front of the stage. These men were heroes and mentors.” The ten band members are indeed the pride of the Tuareg people. Experiences in battle have created many legends. Kheddou is said to have received 17 bullet wounds after leading several raids, armed only with a guitar on his back and a Kalashnikov in his hands. Once, he was doused in gasoline, owing his life to a faulty lighter.

After witnessing his father’s murder at the hands of Malian soldiers, a drought forced Ibrahim to join a training camp in southern Libya, where Ghadaffi made promises to help the Tamashek cause. In between classes about revolution, Islamism, and guerrilla warfare, Ibrahim smoked cigarettes and played music with Hassan and Intayedan (who has since passed away). Upon hearing the music of Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Moroccan music for the first time, they discarded traditional instruments like the shepherd flute and tinde drum in favor of the electric guitar, bass, and drums. However, they continued the tradition of Assak, or the traditional male skills of poetic composition, and choral call-and-response. Soon they became musical revolutionaries, creating a new style of music called Tishoumaren, or simply guitar.

The songs of Tinariwen are petitions for political and cultural self-determination. They have become a point of identity for Tuareg youth. In a land void of laptops and TVs, cheap cassette recordings spread hope and resolve. Sick of the suffering caused by armed rebellion, the music of bands like Tinariwen is the new weapon of choice.

In the summer of 1991, four members of Tinariwen travelled to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast to record the band’s first official release, ‘Kel Tinariwen’. They were Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, Hassan Ag Touhami aka ‘Abin Abin’, Kedou Ag Ossad and Liya Ag Ablil aka ‘Diarra’. The project was the idea of Keltoum Sennhauser, a painter, poet and songwriter of mixed parentage (her father was a Sonhrai, her mother a Tuareg), who grew up partly in Bamako, partly in the Kidal region of north-eastern Mali, the homeland of all the members of Tinariwen. Like so many Tuaregs from that region, Keltoum and her family had been forced to emigrate by the droughts that tore the Tuareg world apart in the mid-1970s and 1980s, as well as all the oppression and suffering that had followed independence in 1960. Keltoum became deeply involved in the Tuareg struggle for freedom and self-determination, and saw music in general and the music of Tinariwen in particular as an essential part of that struggle.

‘Kel Tinariwen’ was never heard outside the local community that traded cassettes back in 1992 – an activity that was important to the movement, as Keltoum explains: “I think the cassette played a crucial role as a tool of communication, a tool that was very dear to us. It served to raise awareness and awaken the consciences of those who felt that everything was already lost, or that we didn’t have the wherewithal to win our struggle. It allowed the Tuareg world to develop its own conscience and move forward. In our milieu, the only thing that can make us question ourselves is music. Because we listen to a lot of music, we love music, we love poetry. We don’t read. We’re not a people who read. So, the only reading we have, about ourselves and about the outside world, is music.”

‘The Radio Tisdas Sessions’ was Tinariwen’s second album, although many consider it the first official album. ‘Aman Iman’ (Water Is Life) was Tinariwen’s third studio album, originally released in 2007, and recorded in Mali’s capital, Bamako. It was produced by Justin Adams (Robert Plant’s guitarist and producer of Tinariwen’s album ‘The Radio Tisdas Sessions’) with recording engineer Ben Findlay.

‘Imidiwan: Companions’ was the band’s fourth album, recorded in Tessalit, the Malian desert village home of band members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Hassan Ag Touhami.

Elwan (The Elephants), was Tinariwen’s seventh album, recorded in the rocky desert near M’Hamid, a small town in southern Morocco, located in the Draa valley in the Zagora area. The area was chosen because their hometown in northern Mali proved too unstable and dangerous due to renewed conflict. It is also a place of significant cultural importance to the Tuareg-Berber people, the location where all the caravans would stop before making the long journey to Timbuktu.

The 2019 album Amadjar was recorded in Mauritania with Noura Mint Seymali and her husband, Jeiche Ould Chigaly.

In March 2022, Lebanese producer Zeid Hamdan released a new remix of the song ‘Alkhar Dessouf’. Zeid explained: “I have been a fan of Tinariwen for such a long time, I could not believe my eyes when I received a message asking me if I would be interested in remixing one of their tracks. I spent hours enjoying the session tracks that were sent to me. Each one of the vocals, the guitars, the percussion, their sound is so unique and really raw, their personality transpires on every take, at every measure. It was not easy to express my own emotions into such a solid ensemble. My remix was really built on a fingerpicking distorted guitar, I allowed myself to experiment on different chords, a fluffy bed of electronics with a soft kik and a one take bass line playing around with a Korg Monologue, I tried to keep it really minimal and raw. I’m really digging its simplicity.”

In November 2022, Tinariwen announced the release of several catalog projects: Kel Tinariwen, an early cassette tape release together with the first-ever vinyl reissues of Independiente era albums Aman Iman (2007) and Imidiwan: Companions (2009).

In 2026 Tinariwen returned to their roots. On Hoggar, their tenth album, they appeared as elders of the desert blues Tuareg musical tradition, going back to their early years of songwriting with acoustic guitars and communal singing around the desert campfire.

The band has in recent years been forced to find new locations for their creativity due to the political turbulence in Mali. The founding members of the band relocated to Algeria where they found a new home to record Hoggar in a studio set up by younger Tuareg band Imarhan in the southern city of Tamanrasset.

“It’s the city with the biggest Tuareg population in Algeria and it’s also where the band started making music back in 1979 when they were refugees,” longstanding collaborator and producer Patrick Votan said. “Since the Imarhan studio was already there, it became the perfect setting to bring all the generations of Tuareg musicians together and to begin exploring once again the raw-edged sound they first became known for.”

On Hoggar the band gathered with the local Tuareg musical community every day for a month. Founding members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni and Touhami Ag Alhassane began writing songs of political unrest next to younger artists like Imarhan’s Iyad Moussa Ben Abderrahmane, Hicham Bouhasse and Haiballah Akhamouk. The group also connected with Sanou Ag Hamed, from the Tuareg band Terakaft. Furthermore, the current tinariwen member collaborated with Tinariwen co-founder Liya ag Ablil, AKA Diarra, for the first time in 25 years. What emerged was a sense of reunion as well as an evolution of the Tinariwen sound.

“The members of Tinariwen were refugee workers of the desert who made music that became about a feeling of nostalgia for a distant home – something they termed ‘assouf,’” Votan added. “At the very beginning they had acoustic guitars, poetry and communal singing around the fire. That was the sound that emerged on Hoggar – everyone together in the same room, playing live without many overdubs but singing about today’s issues.”

The result is 11 tracks of longing emotion, hooky songs, intricate melodics and the choral warmth of collective voices gathering in harmony. Throughout the record there are several noteworthy firsts. On the undulating groove of “Asstaghfero Allah,” for instance, Tinariwen lead vocalists Ibrahim and Abdallah sing together for the first time in over 30 years. Longtime fan José Gonzalez joins the group on “Imidiwan Takyadam” and a number of female vocalists also make a rare appearance, providing cheerful harmonies on “Amidinim Ehaf Solan” and melismatic verses on the traditional Sudanese song “Sagherat Assan,” performed by Sudanese artist Sulafa Elyas.

“The female voice is very important in traditional Tuareg music but it is increasingly hard to find female singers today owing to restrictions placed on them being allowed to sing and train,” Votan shared. “We were lucky to find singers like Wonou Walet Sidati, who used to record and tour with Tinariwen in the past, and Nounou Kaola who all feature on this album.”

In terms of lyrics, Hoggar also raises new and important topics. “Erghad Afewo” sees Ibrahim singing of the division within Tuareg tribes, a topic not often mentioned within the community, while Abdallah’s “Aba Malik” rages against the devastating presence of Russian mercenaries the Wagner Group who are stoking division in north Mali.

“Tinariwen have always been poets of their time,” Votan concluded. “They write about what they are living through and that means it’s not just about the dancing and joy of their popular live shows, it’s also about people who are suffering and culture that is disappearing.”

Discography:

Ténéré ‎(EMI, 1993)
The Radio Tisdas Sessions (Wayward Records/World Village, 2001)
Amassakoul (World Village, 2003)
Aman Iman: Water Is Life (Independiente, 2006)
Imidiwan: Companions (World Village, 2009)
Tassili (V2, 2011)
Live At Bouffes Du Nord ‎(2011)
Emmaar (Anti-/Wedge, 2013)
Live In Paris (Anti-/Wedge, 2015)
Elwan (Epitaph, 2017)
Amadjar (ANTI-Records, 2019)
Kel Tinariwen (Wedge, 2022)
Amatssou (Wedge, 2023)
Idrache = ⵉⴷⵔⴰⵛ (Wedge, 2024)
Hoggar (Wedge, 2026)

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.