WOMAD

Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni

From Mali

Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni is one of the key members of the renowned Toureg group Tinariwen, who are currently enjoying a fantastic response to their new album ‘Aman Iman’ produced by Justin Adams. The Touaregs are the nomadic Berber people of the southern Sahara desert and the Touareg rockers Tinariwen, from the remote north east of Mali, are legendary throughout the region. Their music recalls the African blues of Ali Farka Toure, only edgier, meaner and deeper - roots rock rebels for real. It revolves around the electric guitar, onto which original band members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Alhassane Ag Touhami transposed the traditional melodies and rhythms of their people to create a raw, soulful and utterly new form of music. The guitars are supplemented by percussion, handclaps and rousing call and response vocals that deliver insights on nature, politics, love, exile, loss and the realities of desert life. Theirs is a music that will transport you to the wide horizons of the Sahara, and bathe you in deep and soulful desert blues.The birth of the group Tinariwen in 1982 was intimately linked to exile and the consequent social upheaval experienced by the Touaregs. All the members of Tinariwen are natives of the Adrar of Iforas region in northeastern Mali. During the 1970s they sought refuge from drought and conflict in the southern Algerian town of Tamanrasset. Their lyrics call for the awakening of the politics of conscience and tackle the problems of exile, repression and territorial sovereignty. Arising from this painful period of exile, the group first took the name Taghreft Tinariwen which means ‘the enlightenment of the nation’ in Tamashek, the Touareg language. The original members slowly consolidated into a fully-fledged group and added female backing vocalists to enhance their musical expression. Tinariwen performed in all kinds of settings….marriages, baptisms, gatherings and traditional feasts at encampments deep in the desert.Members of Tinariwen met Lo’Jo, the French group from Angers, in the Malian capital Bamako in 1997. These meetings lead to the first Festival in the Desert, which took place in January 2001 near the village of Tin Essako in the far northeastern corner of Mali, deep in the southern Sahara desert. In the weeks leading up to the festival Tinariwen recorded a set of songs in the studio of the Tamashek speaking Radio Tisdas in Kidal, the capital of northeastern Mali. The sessions were produced by English guitarist Justin Adams, now a member of the Robert Plant band, and Jean-Paul Romann, Lo’Jo’s sound engineer. Apart from the regular Tinariwen line-up (see below), the recordings also featured contributions from the legendary Kheddou and the poet guitarist Japonnais, key figures in the group’s history. ‘The Radio Tisdas Sessions’ CD was released on Wayward Records at the end of 2001 and with hardly any promotion went on to sell well in the UK and USA. Tinariwen then came over to Europe to tour extensively in 2001 and 2002, performing at the WOMAD and Roskilde Festivals and many other venues. In Feb 2004 they released ‘Amassakoul’ which was widely acclaimed. The group have continued to raise their profile internationally and have an extensive tour planned for 2007 to promote the new album ‘Aman Iman’.