Tinariwen bridge the gap. The desert to the city, Saharan blues to Western guitars, sand to streets. Malian in heritage, they lead a transitory existence and have always been built of refugees and Tuareg rebels (or descendants of). They are led by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who, after witnessing the execution of his father in the Tuareg rebellion in 1963, fashioned a guitar out of a stick, a tin can, and the wire from a bicycle brake, and started teaching himself Arabic pop songs. He later joined other Tuareg youngsters in answering to our old favorite dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi's call to arm all fit Tuareg men living illegally in Libya to fight in his Saharan army in 1980, aiming to expand into Chad and Niger. Ag Alhabib would meet the future members of Tinariwen ("Deserts") in these engagements. Gaddafi would be unsuccessful. Tinariwen, on the other hand...
^In the desert, lefties are forced to learn bass upside down.
^Ag Alhabib.
These guys know what they're doing. Good article on what Tinariwen means to Mali and the world in general.
[Wed. night at The State Room]
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