Tinariwen is a renowned collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. Pioneering desert blues, the group’s guitar-driven style combines traditional Tuareg and African music with elements of rock music. They have toured internationally for many years to delighted audiences around the globe. On discovering Tinariwen’s music, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant said, ‘I felt this was the music I’d been looking for all my life.’
Critically acclaimed, the band have been nominated for 3 Grammy awards, and won in 2012 for their album Tassili. They released their eighth album Amadjar in 2019 which featured appearances from Noura Mint Seymali, Micah Nelson, Cass McCombs, Stephen O’Malley, Warren Ellis, and Rodolphe Burger. The Times described the album as ‘a sound that feels ancient’ and AV Club described it as ‘droning songs of interlocking (and mostly acoustic) guitar…with an appealing slowness, as if each element is steadily wandering in from the wilderness, curious about the noise and ready to join in.’
