Following Adrian’s criticism that I tend to just like music from the past (which is a valid criticism – I find few bands in the modern era that I can really identify with -( but there are a few)) I thought I’d delve a little more into music of today. This is the fabulous desert blues of Tinariwen.
They blow your socks off.
A bit of Arab Blues! I love this band.
Today’s music to cheer me up in Isolation is Tinariwen.
I just fancied a bit of that hypnotic desert blues. Tinariwen are a Tuareg arab group from the Sahara. They do a brilliant electric blues sound that is very distinctive.
I’m playing it good and loud. It’s very rousing!
I love hearing what is happening with World Music – particularly when it’s plugged in and rockin’. Tinariwen are certainly plugged in.
Tinariwen come out of Algeria and Mali. They are a Tuareg dessert band playing a type of guitar based music straight out of West Africa. This was the type of African music that fed into Blues a century ago. The black slaves took it to America with them and the Blues is what later emerged.
The incredible guitar weaves its way over a complex driving beat complex with a strong vocal and female chorus.
It is like going back to visit the force behind the Blues in America yet this is thoroughly modern. Despite all the cultural layers and language the music talks and communicates directly to the heart.
These guys are real rebels who have seen it all and it shows in the music. Where they come from has seen too much war and death.
This album has a variety of styles all with that quality musicianship and slightly different rhythm to the ones we are familiar with yet it is instantly accessible. I particularly like the opening track ‘Cler Achel’ and the slow infectious ‘Soixante Trois’
An amazing album
If you are enjoying or at all enlightened by these, rather idiosyncratic, list of brilliant albums why not purchase the book and see what other undiscovered gems it might expose (along with some of the more well-known albums). You might find it well worth a fiver.
I love hearing what is happening with World Music – particularly when it’s plugged in and rockin’. Tinariwen are certainly plugged in.
Tinariwen come out of Algeria and Mali. They are a Tuareg dessert band playing a type of guitar based music straight out of West Africa. This was the type of African music that fed into Blues a century ago. The black slaves took it to America with them and the Blues is what later emerged.
The incredible guitar weaves its way over a complex driving beat complex with a strong vocal and female chorus.
It is like going back to visit the force behind the Blues in America yet this is thoroughly modern. Despite all the cultural layers and language the music talks and communicates directly to the heart.
These guys are real rebels who have seen it all and it shows in the music. Where they come from has seen too much war and death.
This album has a variety of styles all with that quality musicianship and slightly different rhythm to the ones we are familiar with yet it is instantly accessible. I particularly like the opening track ‘Cler Achel’ and the slow infectious ‘Soixante Trois’
An amazing album
If you are enjoying or at all enlightened by these, rather idiosyncratic, list of brilliant albums why not purchase the book and see what other undiscovered gems it might expose (along with some of the more well-known albums). You might find it well worth a fiver.