TINARIWEN - Live in London DVD (Independiente)

It has long been acknowledged that an appreciation of the tale behind the emergence of desert blues rebel-rockers Tinariwen adds a piquancy to their already highly appealing music, so a visual package that complements their three excellent albums, which captures the band at their animated best whilst simultaneously filling out their ‘back story’, is most welcome.
The image of guitarist and founder member Ibrahim Ag Alhabib dominates the cover of this DVD, towering over his band just as his story towers over the band's gestation. An hour-long al fresco fireside chat with Tinariwen manager Andy Morgan sets out Ibrahim’s extraordinary journey, from the death of his father in the first Tuareg rebellion through to his own role in the second Tuareg rebellion, and taking in childhood exile, tailoring, carpentry, more family tragedy, prison, training in the Ghadaffi camps to what might ultimately be deemed his salvation through music. All the features written on the band over the last few years could no doubt be stitched together to tell much of this story, but Ibrahim opens up as never before under gentle probing to reveal the tight bind between the music and the cultural strength of the Tuaregs themselves. Possibly the only obvious question remaining is when or whether Ibrahim would ever re-join the armed wing of what appears to be a continuous struggle for recognition and freedom for the Tuaregs, but that answer remains implicit in what remains true rebel music, devoid of spoilt Western rock star posturing.
The concert itself finds the band on fine form, the Shepherd's Bush Empire gig of late 2007 truncated to a tight, seventy minute twelve-song set of tracks mostly comprising – and evenly divided between – the band's last two albums. The band is in particularly spirited form, their stagecraft improved beyond measure from their early, static appearances, and there's the option of concurrent subtitled song explanations for added depth.
In addition, there is a brief interview with producer Justin Adams about the relationship between himself and the band, a fifteen minute documentary chiefly comprising interviews with individual members of the entourage that sheds further light on the group and its cultural context, and you can even learn how to tie a shesh (Tuareg turban).
All in all, a well put-together, informative package which doesn‘t outstay its welcome.

Independiente
Tinariwen website

TERAKAFT - Akh Issudar (IRL)

It’s no coincidence that this spare, soulful recording feels like a natural bedfellow for Tinariwen’s atmospheric debut album, The Radio Tisdas Sessions, because Terakaft founders Kedou Ag Ossad and Diara are former Tinariwen band members themselves and thus deploy a similar clanking reverbed electric guitar sound backed by itchy acoustic guitar strums, droning bass and eerie, swaying call and response vocals. This is a sombre campfire session of an album, one song seeding satisfyingly into the next in a sonic framework that evokes the enveloping blanket of desert darkness rather than the loping camel gait drive that's to be heard on the two most recent Tinariwen releases.
From the haunting, murmured introduction to the cool, acoustic guitar and bass driven closing track, this is a coherent collection of songs that possess deep, bluesy tones and a natural rhythm (there's no percussion other than a restrained use of hand-claps), and at its best it's about as good as Tuareg desert blues gets.
Amdagh in particular deserves to join the pantheon - the guitars swim and swirl round Kedou's dense, dry vocals with a rumbling bass groove driving a powerful circular, accelerating rhythm. And Leg Assistane Dagh Aitma is typically Tuareg in both sound and philosophy (“Question to my brothers: shall we remain passive or take action?”). This and much else on Akh Issudar will probably appeal most to listeners who prefer where Tinariwen have come from to where they are headed – on the desert blues spectrum, Terakaft sit around midpoint between the rebel rock of the desert blues brand leaders and the spacious spirituality of Tartit – but wherever you put them, this tight and moody album is an assured and welcome addition to the genre.