Tinariwen - Aman Iman

I've been listening to a lot more "world" music lately. Trying to get out of the "safe" zone a little. Sometimes you just gotta mix things up. Moisturize your situation and culturalify your life. Yeah I said "culturalify" and yeah I know it's not really a word. Dick. War, music, exile, upheaval and poetry intermingle to form Tinariwen, which means "empty places", - a musical band formed in 1982 in Moammar al-Qadhafi's camps of Tuareg rebels. All the members of Tinariwen are natives of the Adrar of Iforas region in northeastern Mali (Africa). During the 1970s they sought refuge from drought and conflict in the southern Algerian town of Tamanrasset. History Lesson: "In 1963 a rebellion by the Touareg people of the southern Sahara was brutally suppressed by the government of the newly independent republic of Mali. As a result the first great migration of Touaregs from their homelands in northern Mali to Algeria was set in motion. The cumulative effect of severe droughts in 1973 and 1974 also resulted in a massive exodus to the big cities of North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. A new diaspora established itself in these unfamiliar urban surroundings and their exile was tainted by rootlessness and social upheaval". - sasamusic.com - Read the rest of a really excellent history synopsis at sasamusic.com.

Tuareg political figure Iyad Ag Ghali, at one point, even financed the acquisition of guitars and amps for the group, and in turn used some of their songs as propaganda tools during the rebellion of the 1990s. Their sung poetry calls for "the political awakening of consciousness and approaches the problems of the exile, of the repression in Mali, of the policy of explusion to Algeria and of the claims for sovereignty and self-determination".

Tinariwen's new album entitled Aman Iman, meaning "water is life", will be released this January 26th from Independiente.

Tinariwen - Matadjem Yinmixan (Radio Edit)
Tinariwen - Taskiout