Featuring the usual cyclical guitar swirls, call and response vocal chants and urgent handclap rhythms, Kel Tamasheq ("The People Who Speak Tamashek" – ie, the Touareg) is as infectiously engaging as you'd expect from an offshoot of the Tinariwen taproot.
But while the music retains familiar desert-blues stylings, the lyrics reflect the traumatic disruption in the rapidly-changing world of the Touareg, with criticism of the Ansar Dine fundamentalist invaders in "Imad Halan", and several reflections on the turmoil of war, most poetically in "Taddaza".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments