Much has been written about
Tinariwen's resilience. After being exiled from their home in Mali, the nomadic Saharan blues collective first came together in the early '80s, training as soldiers for the Libyan military while trying to preserve their Tuareg cultural heritage in song. They didn't make their first album until 2001, and even after their improbable rise to global attention, they have continued to face near-constant adversity. In 2012 they were again exiled from their war-torn homeland and, despite their many connections among the Western musical elite, they have recorded their last two albums in tents. The veteran band has lived harder than any rock & roll fable, asking for little more than a place to land and make music. Initially set to be recorded at
Jack White's personal Nashville studio, their ninth album,
Amatssou (a Tamashek term that translates to "beyond the fear"), was disrupted by the global pandemic, forcing them to instead record in a makeshift desert camp in Algeria. It was produced remotely (from Los Angeles) by
Daniel Lanois, one of rock's most respected producers. In other words, it's business as usual for
Tinariwen. The band's trend of bringing in Western players from disparate genres continues here, this time with country musicians
Wes Corbett (banjo) and
Fats Kaplin (fiddle) joining the fray. One of the most remarkable things about
Tinariwen is how permeable and elastic their music is. Previous records have included everyone from
the Dirty Dozen Brass Band to indie rocker
Kurt Vile, and yet the attributes each of these guests bring are uniformly folded into the ever-consistent whole of the group's sound. On "Tenere Den,"
Kaplin's reeling fiddle weaves effortlessly throughout a typically snaky
Tinariwen melody. Likewise,
Corbett's nimble banjo feels like an essential component of "Kek Alghalm." Their contributions are mere echoes of American country music, easily joining the family of sounds that comprise what has come to be known as desert blues. For his part,
Lanois takes an appropriately light touch, balancing the unique performances with the occasional ethereal flourish, like on the mesmerizing "Jayche Atarak." Like all
Tinariwen releases,
Amatssou is compelling and strange. They are a musical entity like no other, translating the essence of their culture through creative exploration and complementary collaborations, yet always attuned to their inner compass. ~ Timothy Monger
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