TINARIWEN “AMEN IMAN: WATER IS LIFE” WORLD VILLAGE

“Tinariwen are a group of Tuareg nomads from Mali, and they play African blues. It doesn’t sound anything like American blues, but they call it ‘African blues,’ for some reason. They use traditional African rhythms but also electric guitars and sing in either their native Tuareg language or in French. In one of those moments of reverse karma, a customer turned us onto them, and now we carry the only three albums they have international distribution for. But apparently, for the last 20 years their cassettes have been passed around Africa and Europe. If you look them up on MySpace, you’ll see pictures of them in desert robes, wearing head scarves and looking like North African militia guys posing with their rifles—but instead of rifles, they have guitars. They haven’t made it out here yet, but they are opening for the Rolling Stones in Dublin soon.” // AARON CARROLL

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