When it comes to music, the Sahara desert is not a place you might think of as being the birthplace of the blues.
Sahara blues music has just recently made the transatlantic trek to the rest of the globe, and its distinctive sound has given rise to remarkable performers and ensembles with a universal appeal.
It spans most of North Africa, including Algeria, Mali, and Niger, and is about the same size as the entire USA at nine million square kilometers.
But Saharan cultures, like many other ethnic groups in Africa, have a long and lively musical heritage. The matriarchal Tuareg people are possibly the most well-known example of this.
For generations, while men clapped and played lutes, women would do call-and-response vocals while playing imzad fiddles and tindé drums, as they still do today.
Conflict and European colonialism have had a significant impact on Sahara blues music throughout the past century, inspiring tales of “desert dwellers… who refuse to live subjected.”
A number of performers have introduced the globe to a culture that still resonates with American musicians and audiences by exporting their history and harmonies abroad.
Below are Sahara Blues Musical nomads finding international acclaim;
Tamikrest
The international and multicultural band Tamikrest (Tamashek: “Connection”) released their album Tamotaït in March 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, they are comfortable mixing international styles with their own because they have lived outside of their diverse homelands in other nations and areas.
Even while they continue to demand freedom and justice for their fellow nomads, their exile-related trips serve as a vital source of inspiration for their music.
Tamikrest use a dynamic, universal sound to engage listeners everywhere and have impacted American-Australian indie-rock bands like Dirtmusic.
Tartit
Tartit (Tamashek: “Unity”), a well-known Sahara blues band, has a distinctive sound and primarily uses indigenous instruments.
Early in the 1990s, Tartit people descended from Malian refugee camps in Mauritania, further emphasizing the subject of relocation for the Tuareg peoples.
They also provide a strong dose of femininity because five female vocalists lead the group, along with four male counterparts.
Despite switching to electric guitars, Tinariwen continues to perform at the imzad, and audiences as far away as the MASA Fair in Côte d’Ivoire and Seattle’s WOMAD festival enjoy their more traditional sound.
Tinariwen
Tinariwen (Tamashek: “People of the Desert”) has been performing Sahara blues music for 40 years, and is arguably the most well-known band currently performing the genre.
They established a modern-rock take on the genre, with themes on the challenges of displacement, and were founded in Algeria of Malian Tuareg descent.
They made their name in the United States by playing at Coachella after beginning their career playing at Mali’s “Festival in the Desert” in 2001.
On their 2017 album Elwan, which featured American rock musician Kurt Vile, they were introduced to a larger American audience.
