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Toumast

From Niger Republic

The poppier end of those Saharan desert blues

"There was a time when I wanted to fight with my gun. Today I have to fight with my new weapon, my guitar." Moussa Ag Keyna has a past life rather more eventful than those of thousands of bedroom musicians in their safe European homes. Like his contemporaries Tinariwen, he actively served in the Touareg Liberation Front in its campaign against the Niger and Mali governments for recognition of Touareg homelands. Carrying a number of war wounds, Moussa retreated to France where he formed Toumast, his trio with singer/guitarist Aminatou Goumar and French multi-instrumentalist Dan Levy. While Tinariwen blew open the doors of Touareg music to Western ears, Toumast opt for a slightly different path across the desert. Bluesy guitar and fulsome ululations remain to the fore, but the trio take things a little funkier and more uptempo - all without, of course, diluting the message and the political purpose of these songs of freedom.
(Biography by Nige Tassell 2010)

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