TAMIKREST - Forced Exposure

$15.50 IN STOCK

On Tamotaït, Tamikrest's fifth studio album, the music blazes bright and long. With the political situation so volatile and desperate in the Saharan ancestral lands from which Tamikrest come, this is more than an album. Tamotaït means hope for a positive change. Change as in an end to the fighting that's plagued northern Mali and the wider region for the past several years; change such as the chance to prosper within their own homeland -- Azawad -- a proto nation that the nomadic Tuareg (or Kel Tamasheq as they prefer to be called) briefly possessed in 2012. It's assouf, music forged in exile. Because of the toxic regional conflict, for much of the last decade the founding members of Tamikrest have not lived in Kidal, Mali, the desert crossroads town where the band began in 2007. They live in Tamanrasset (Algeria), Paris, and at times along the desolate Algerian/Malian borderlands. Yet, exile can also mean the hope of return, and on "Amzagh" and "As Sastnan Hidjan", the two tracks the group sees as pivotal to understanding the themes of Tamotaït, Tamikrest sing of the possibilities that lie ahead for the Kel Tamasheq people. The music builds and builds, the dual, intertwined guitars of Ag Mossa and Paul Salvagnac relentless and insistent, until it finally all boils over. It also brings light and warmth and comfort, and its glow fills the beautifully aching "Timtarin", where the band is joined by an ideal collaborator, the renowned Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra. Tamotaït is the most expansive and adventurous album that Tamikrest have made, exploring every corner of their sound. There's even music they made far from the Sahara -- in Japan. On tour there, Ag Mossa had been very taken by the sound of their traditional instruments. Tamikrest's plans to record there were almost derailed by a typhoon. But one track does appear on the album: the final cut, "Tabsit", with its atmospheric, gossamer melody. The shamisen and five-string tonkori of guests Atsushi Sakta and Oki Kano glide around the guitars to create a piece where the desert truly does meet the Rising Sun. Most of Tamotaït, though, was recorded in rural France, working with producer David Odlum (Glen Hansard, Gemma Hayes, Tinariwen), stepping up from his mixing role on the band's 2016 release, Kidal (GB 043CD/LP). Tamikrest have become one of the best rock n' roll bands in the world.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; included download code. On Tamotaït, Tamikrest's fifth studio album, the music blazes bright and long. With the political situation so volatile and desperate in the Saharan ancestral lands from which Tamikrest come, this is more than an album. Tamotaït means hope for a positive change. Change as in an end to the fighting that's plagued northern Mali and the wider region for the past several years; change such as the chance to prosper within their own homeland -- Azawad -- a proto nation that the nomadic Tuareg (or Kel Tamasheq as they prefer to be called) briefly possessed in 2012. It's assouf, music forged in exile. Because of the toxic regional conflict, for much of the last decade the founding members of Tamikrest have not lived in Kidal, Mali, the desert crossroads town where the band began in 2007. They live in Tamanrasset (Algeria), Paris, and at times along the desolate Algerian/Malian borderlands. Yet, exile can also mean the hope of return, and on "Amzagh" and "As Sastnan Hidjan", the two tracks the group sees as pivotal to understanding the themes of Tamotaït, Tamikrest sing of the possibilities that lie ahead for the Kel Tamasheq people. The music builds and builds, the dual, intertwined guitars of Ag Mossa and Paul Salvagnac relentless and insistent, until it finally all boils over. It also brings light and warmth and comfort, and its glow fills the beautifully aching "Timtarin", where the band is joined by an ideal collaborator, the renowned Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra. Tamotaït is the most expansive and adventurous album that Tamikrest have made, exploring every corner of their sound. There's even music they made far from the Sahara -- in Japan. On tour there, Ag Mossa had been very taken by the sound of their traditional instruments. Tamikrest's plans to record there were almost derailed by a typhoon. But one track does appear on the album: the final cut, "Tabsit", with its atmospheric, gossamer melody. The shamisen and five-string tonkori of guests Atsushi Sakta and Oki Kano glide around the guitars to create a piece where the desert truly does meet the Rising Sun. Most of Tamotaït, though, was recorded in rural France, working with producer David Odlum (Glen Hansard, Gemma Hayes, Tinariwen), stepping up from his mixing role on the band's 2016 release, Kidal (GB 043CD/LP). Tamikrest have become one of the best rock n' roll bands in the world.

$12.00 IN STOCK

2010 release. The debut album by Tuareg band Tamikrest. "As far as I'm concerned, it's Tinariwen who created the path," declares Ousmane Ag Mossa, frizzy-locked leader of Tamikrest, in a pre-emptive strike against a thousand inevitable questions. "But the way I see it, if younger bands don't come through, then Touareg music will eventually die. They created the path and now it's up to us to walk down it and create the future." Mossa was born in a village called Tinzaouaten, a solitary speck squeezed up against Mali's northeastern border with Algeria. With his constant friend Cheikh Ag Tiglia, Mossa would write songs and perform them at the school shows. He learned the Tamashek guitar style by listening to a particular cassette that Tinariwen's leader, Ibrahim aka Abaraybone, had recorded in Algeria in 1998. In 2002, events once again undermined the tenuous calm and stability in Tinza. The village was home to one of the southern desert's most infamous freedom fighters and warlords, Ibrahim ag Bahanga. For this reason it became a military no-go zone. Mossa's father left to live with his eldest sons in Libya, and both Mossa and Tiglia went south to Kidal, where they would form Tamikrest and develop their style and their fan base among Kidal's younger generation. They knew the Tamashek guitar style intimately, but they were also deeply into rap, metal, Maghrebi pop, and Afro-disco music from Côte d'Ivoire. In late 2007, Tamikrest member Pino contacted Manny Ansar, the director of the now-world-famous Festival in the Desert, and clinched a gig for Tamikrest. The band found the money to transport themselves the 600 miles eastward to Timbuktu. In the silky dunes of Essakane they met Dirtmusic, a group of rock 'n' roll veterans from the USA and Australia. It was one of those meetings fashioned by fate in the workshops of destiny. Chris Eckman of Dirtmusic remembers the meeting thus: "On our first morning in Essakane we woke up hearing music, so we went across the sand to the tent opposite ours and that's where Tamikrest was playing. Chris Brokaw grabbed his dobro and headed over, then Hugo and I eventually did the same and basically for three days we didn't leave." The friendship formed at Essakane grew in the following months and lead to an invitation by Dirtmusic to come to the Malian capital Bamako to make an album, and contribute to Dirtmusic's own oeuvre. After another epic journey of 1,200 miles, by car and bus, Mossa, Mohammedine, and crew entered their first professional studio and Adagh was born.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180-gram vinyl. 2010 release. The debut album by Tuareg band Tamikrest. "As far as I'm concerned, it's Tinariwen who created the path," declares Ousmane Ag Mossa, frizzy-locked leader of Tamikrest, in a pre-emptive strike against a thousand inevitable questions. "But the way I see it, if younger bands don't come through, then Touareg music will eventually die. They created the path and now it's up to us to walk down it and create the future." Mossa was born in a village called Tinzaouaten, a solitary speck squeezed up against Mali's northeastern border with Algeria. With his constant friend Cheikh Ag Tiglia, Mossa would write songs and perform them at the school shows. He learned the Tamashek guitar style by listening to a particular cassette that Tinariwen's leader, Ibrahim aka Abaraybone, had recorded in Algeria in 1998. In 2002, events once again undermined the tenuous calm and stability in Tinza. The village was home to one of the southern desert's most infamous freedom fighters and warlords, Ibrahim ag Bahanga. For this reason it became a military no-go zone. Mossa's father left to live with his eldest sons in Libya, and both Mossa and Tiglia went south to Kidal, where they would form Tamikrest and develop their style and their fan base among Kidal's younger generation. They knew the Tamashek guitar style intimately, but they were also deeply into rap, metal, Maghrebi pop, and Afro-disco music from Côte d'Ivoire. In late 2007, Tamikrest member Pino contacted Manny Ansar, the director of the now-world-famous Festival in the Desert, and clinched a gig for Tamikrest. The band found the money to transport themselves the 600 miles eastward to Timbuktu. In the silky dunes of Essakane they met Dirtmusic, a group of rock 'n' roll veterans from the USA and Australia. It was one of those meetings fashioned by fate in the workshops of destiny. Chris Eckman of Dirtmusic remembers the meeting thus: "On our first morning in Essakane we woke up hearing music, so we went across the sand to the tent opposite ours and that's where Tamikrest was playing. Chris Brokaw grabbed his dobro and headed over, then Hugo and I eventually did the same and basically for three days we didn't leave." The friendship formed at Essakane grew in the following months and lead to an invitation by Dirtmusic to come to the Malian capital Bamako to make an album, and contribute to Dirtmusic's own oeuvre. After another epic journey of 1,200 miles, by car and bus, Mossa, Mohammedine, and crew entered their first professional studio and Adagh was born.

$15.50 IN STOCK

All around the town of Kidal, the Malian desert stretches in every direction. Endless horizons of rock and sand, barren and parched. This is the southwestern edge of the Sahara, the home of the Tuareg people, and the Kidal is one of their main cultural centers. Fought over, conquered, and reconquered, it remains the symbol of Tuareg defiance and hope, the spiritual home of a dispossessed people. It is also the town in which Tamikrest first came together as a group, and on Kidal, Tamikrest's fourth studio album, the band pays homage to this place that's nurtured them and their people. It's a cry of suffering and the yell of rebellion. It's power and resistance. This is pure Tuareg rock 'n' roll. "I wrote most of the songs when I was in the desert," explains singer and lead guitarist Ousmane Ag Mossa. But it had to be that way, he says. "If you want to talk about the situation, you really need to live it." From the simmering intensity behind the opener, "Mawarniha Tartit," through the sweet slide work of second guitarist Paul Salvagnac on "Atwitas" to the full-blooded roar on "Adoutat Salilagh," this is a band fired with passion for their people and the centuries of injustice they've endured. "Kidal, the cradle of all these uprisings, continues to resist the many acts perpetrated by obscure hands against our people," notes band associate Rhissa Ag Mohamed. "This album evokes all the suffering and manipulation of our populations caught in pincers on all sides." From their debut in 2010 onward, Tamikrest have had the fire in their music, and it's built with each release. Chatma, their third disc, hit number one on the World Music Charts Europe and was acclaimed as one of the albums of the year in publications across the globe. Songlines magazine gave them the Best Group Award, while their live performances showed a band whose sound sent sparks flying. With Kidal, that blaze is roaring. The songs here mirror their joys, their pain and their unwillingness to accept things as they are. There's a raw beauty in Tamikrest's rock 'n' roll. It's there in the driving, insistent groove that powers the songs, the lean, snaking basslines and guitars that twine and twist around the melodies, and the utterly natural musical blending of Sahel Africa, the Maghreb, and the West -- a reflection of influences as diverse as Pink Floyd, Rachid Taha, and flamenco. Yet the Sahara, and the people who live there, is always firmly at its heart. This album celebrates who the Tuareg are, the Kel Tamasheq ("those who speak Tamasheq"), the keepers of an ancient and endangered cultural voice. Kidal is the music of defiance, of hope. It's rock 'n' roll from the Sahara, the sound of the Tuareg dream, a dream that will be renewed again, in their ancestral town: Kidal. Recorded at Studio Bogolan, Bamako, Mali, August and September, 2016. Produced by Mark Mulholland (Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra). Mixed by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Odlum (Tinariwen) at Black Box Recording, Noyant-la-Gravoyère, France. Ousmane Ag Mossa: vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar; Aghaly Ag Mohamedine: djembe, backing vocals; Cheick Ag Tiglia: bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals; Paul Salvagnac: lead and rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar; Nicolas Grupp: drums and percussion.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180-gram vinyl. Includes download code. All around the town of Kidal, the Malian desert stretches in every direction. Endless horizons of rock and sand, barren and parched. This is the southwestern edge of the Sahara, the home of the Tuareg people, and the Kidal is one of their main cultural centers. Fought over, conquered, and reconquered, it remains the symbol of Tuareg defiance and hope, the spiritual home of a dispossessed people. It is also the town in which Tamikrest first came together as a group, and on Kidal, Tamikrest's fourth studio album, the band pays homage to this place that's nurtured them and their people. It's a cry of suffering and the yell of rebellion. It's power and resistance. This is pure Tuareg rock 'n' roll. "I wrote most of the songs when I was in the desert," explains singer and lead guitarist Ousmane Ag Mossa. But it had to be that way, he says. "If you want to talk about the situation, you really need to live it." From the simmering intensity behind the opener, "Mawarniha Tartit," through the sweet slide work of second guitarist Paul Salvagnac on "Atwitas" to the full-blooded roar on "Adoutat Salilagh," this is a band fired with passion for their people and the centuries of injustice they've endured. "Kidal, the cradle of all these uprisings, continues to resist the many acts perpetrated by obscure hands against our people," notes band associate Rhissa Ag Mohamed. "This album evokes all the suffering and manipulation of our populations caught in pincers on all sides." From their debut in 2010 onward, Tamikrest have had the fire in their music, and it's built with each release. Chatma, their third disc, hit number one on the World Music Charts Europe and was acclaimed as one of the albums of the year in publications across the globe. Songlines magazine gave them the Best Group Award, while their live performances showed a band whose sound sent sparks flying. With Kidal, that blaze is roaring. The songs here mirror their joys, their pain and their unwillingness to accept things as they are. There's a raw beauty in Tamikrest's rock 'n' roll. It's there in the driving, insistent groove that powers the songs, the lean, snaking basslines and guitars that twine and twist around the melodies, and the utterly natural musical blending of Sahel Africa, the Maghreb, and the West -- a reflection of influences as diverse as Pink Floyd, Rachid Taha, and flamenco. Yet the Sahara, and the people who live there, is always firmly at its heart. This album celebrates who the Tuareg are, the Kel Tamasheq ("those who speak Tamasheq"), the keepers of an ancient and endangered cultural voice. Kidal is the music of defiance, of hope. It's rock 'n' roll from the Sahara, the sound of the Tuareg dream, a dream that will be renewed again, in their ancestral town: Kidal. Recorded at Studio Bogolan, Bamako, Mali, August and September, 2016. Produced by Mark Mulholland (Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra). Mixed by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Odlum (Tinariwen) at Black Box Recording, Noyant-la-Gravoyère, France. Ousmane Ag Mossa: vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar; Aghaly Ag Mohamedine: djembe, backing vocals; Cheick Ag Tiglia: bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals; Paul Salvagnac: lead and rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar; Nicolas Grupp: drums and percussion.

$12.00 IN STOCK

2011 release. Tamikrest follow their 2010 debut, Adagh (GR 703CD/LP), with Toumastin, honing their focus on the rebellious power of rock music in their own special way. Tamikrest are from Kidal, a remote desert town in the northwest of the Sahara, some 1,200 miles north of the capital, Bamako. Tamikrest are substantially younger than the most prominent Tuareg band, Tinariwen, but there is a close resemblance between both bands. Just like Tinariwen, Tamikrest have found a way to translate the pulse of the blues -- the roots of which lie in North Africa -- back to the Tuareg language Tamaschek. They take generators deep into the desert to have electricity for their guitars in search for the perfect synthesis of their traditional ritual drumming with the music of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley. Tamikrest's leader, Ousmane Ag Mossa, is quick to admit his influences: "When I was young I listened to a lot of traditional Tuareg music as well as Tinariwen. There was no other music. I started to learn the guitar around that time and it was only in 2000 that I had access to cassettes of Bob Marley and Dire Straits. That changed my musical vision completely and I stopped to classify music. Music is just music, no matter where it comes from. Music is just too big for me to comprehend in its entirety. My goal is to broaden my horizon step by step." Tamikrest are on a trip into the infinite world of music. When the band was founded in 2006 they had a hard time getting exposure in their homeland as it proved to be difficult for music with ancient traditions in a country that is flooded with Western-influenced hip-hop and pop. Things changed abruptly when they played the Festival Au Desert in 2008 and met with the American/Australian band Dirtmusic, made up of Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts), Chris Brokaw (Come), and Hugo Race (Hugo Race & True Spirit). Mossa talks about the fateful meeting: "We jammed in tents, open air in the desert sand and on stage. This has extended my musical knowledge tremendously and from that point on I played my guitar in a different way. Through Dirtmusic we had the chance to work in a professional studio for the first time. There was no way had we would let that opportunity pass, so we travelled the long way from Kidal to Bamako." With their second album, Toumastin, the young Tuareg rebels create their own universe using even brighter colors. The enchanted ancient mystique of the songs captures the ear immediately, but as the music carries on the band bridges the gaps between African blues, hypnotic dub, psychedelic funk, and an almost supernatural kind of desert garage. The guitars are more offensive, the groove deepens, and the Tamaschek chants merge with the meandering guitar riffs like a caravan voyage through ancient times.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP pressed on 180-gram vinyl and presented in gatefold sleeve with download code; limited to 1500 copies. Taksera (which in Tamashek means "a celebration with music") is a rough and ready live album that is sure to give a jolt to Tuareg rock group Tamikrest's already heady reputation. Recorded on a summer festival stage during their 2014 Chatma (GB 007CD/LP) tour, the album vividly showcases the visceral and improvisational power of the band. The hypnotic grooves of the songs are blissfully extended, and the band's signature drive and electric guitar telepathy are pushed up front and center. The material on Taksera visits all three of the band's acclaimed studio albums and gives a sharply focused argument as to why Tamikrest is one of the most lauded young bands from the African continent. Their 2013 album Chatma reached the number one position on the World Music Charts Europe and graced year-end best-of lists at Uncut, Mojo, Les Inrocks, and The Quietus. Songlines went even further and gave them its "Best Group Award" for 2013. Taksera was engineered and mixed by Jean-Paul Romann, who has produced seminal albums by Tuareg music legends Tinariwen and Terakaft. The album was recorded at the Burg Herzberg Festival in Alsfeld, Germany, on August 1, 2014, and is in every way the celebration that its title promises. It energetically underlines Tamikrest's unique cultural mission and their commitment to explore new possibilities for Tuareg music. It shows a band full of hard-earned confidence and swagger; a band in love with turning up their amps and letting it rip.

$12.00 NOT IN STOCK

Midline pricing. "Tamikrest" means "crossing" in the language of the Kel Tamashek, a traditionally nomadic Saharan people that are commonly referred to as the Tuaregs. It is an apt name for a band that so successfully merges the values of their timeless culture with the sounds and visions they have encountered on a headlong journey to the concert stages and iPods of the world. Since the band emerged onto the international scene with their debut album Adagh, they have been in constant motion, moving between the Sahara and Europe as though these places were next-door neighbors. All the while, during this same time period, their homeland has suffered increasingly profound and catastrophic events. Originally hailing from Kidal, in the northeast of Mali, as the result of ongoing war, persecution and political collapse, most of the band now lives in exile in Algeria. These last years have been intensely vivid for Tamikrest, defined as they have been by both tragic sadness (families and friends turned refugees, the brutal imposition of Sharia law in their hometown) and collective growth (their musical dreams building one upon another). Their album Chatma, their third, deftly navigates these experiences and fashions them into a fully persuasive and poetic musical document. The album is filled with sober reflection, moral indignation, musical experimentation, cultural celebration and the kick of rock and roll. Chatma is also Tamikrest's first album to be wholly written around a defined theme. In Tamashek, "chatma" means "sisters," and the band has dedicated the album in their own words to: "the courage of the Tuareg women, who have ensured both their children's survival and the morals of their fathers and brothers." Chatma also delivers Tamikrest's most wide-screen and wide-ranging sonic statement to-date. The infectious, sing-along rock stylings of "Imanin bas zihoun," the acoustic seduction of "Adounia tabarat," the Pink Floyd-influenced montage "Assikal" and the lush, melancholy ambiance of the album's finale, "Timtar," all add up to a sustained audio adventure. Echoes of dub, blues, psychedelia, funk and even art-rock are seamlessly woven by Tamikrest into their increasingly individual take on the Tuareg musical tradition. And on an album where the title translates as "sisters," it makes perfect sense that this time around we hear the full emergence of the haunting voice of female vocalist Wonou Walet Sidati in tandem with lead vocalist Ousmane Ag Mossa. A new guitarist, Paul Salvagnac has also joined the band, bringing with him fresh textures and possibilities. Contemporary Tuareg music has produced several unforgettable albums in recent years and Chatma certainly deserves to be ranked with these. But one also gets the sense, when listening to Chatma that there is something uniquely innovative and exploratory about Tamikrest's musical quest and that at last they have stepped into a wide-open space of their own.

$23.50 IN STOCK

2022 restock. Gatefold LP version with CD. "Tamikrest" means "crossing" in the language of the Kel Tamashek, a traditionally nomadic Saharan people that are commonly referred to as the Tuaregs. It is an apt name for a band that so successfully merges the values of their timeless culture with the sounds and visions they have encountered on a headlong journey to the concert stages and iPods of the world. Since the band emerged onto the international scene with their debut album Adagh, they have been in constant motion, moving between the Sahara and Europe as though these places were next-door neighbors. All the while, during this same time period, their homeland has suffered increasingly profound and catastrophic events. Originally hailing from Kidal, in the northeast of Mali, as the result of ongoing war, persecution and political collapse, most of the band now lives in exile in Algeria. These last years have been intensely vivid for Tamikrest, defined as they have been by both tragic sadness (families and friends turned refugees, the brutal imposition of Sharia law in their hometown) and collective growth (their musical dreams building one upon another). Their album Chatma, their third, deftly navigates these experiences and fashions them into a fully persuasive and poetic musical document. The album is filled with sober reflection, moral indignation, musical experimentation, cultural celebration and the kick of rock and roll. Chatma is also Tamikrest's first album to be wholly written around a defined theme. In Tamashek, "chatma" means "sisters," and the band has dedicated the album in their own words to: "the courage of the Tuareg women, who have ensured both their children's survival and the morals of their fathers and brothers." Chatma also delivers Tamikrest's most wide-screen and wide-ranging sonic statement to-date. The infectious, sing-along rock stylings of "Imanin bas zihoun," the acoustic seduction of "Adounia tabarat," the Pink Floyd-influenced montage "Assikal" and the lush, melancholy ambiance of the album's finale, "Timtar," all add up to a sustained audio adventure. Echoes of dub, blues, psychedelia, funk and even art-rock are seamlessly woven by Tamikrest into their increasingly individual take on the Tuareg musical tradition. And on an album where the title translates as "sisters," it makes perfect sense that this time around we hear the full emergence of the haunting voice of female vocalist Wonou Walet Sidati in tandem with lead vocalist Ousmane Ag Mossa. A new guitarist, Paul Salvagnac has also joined the band, bringing with him fresh textures and possibilities. Contemporary Tuareg music has produced several unforgettable albums in recent years and Chatma certainly deserves to be ranked with these. But one also gets the sense, when listening to Chatma that there is something uniquely innovative and exploratory about Tamikrest's musical quest and that at last they have stepped into a wide-open space of their own.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

Restocked. Up-and-coming Malian band Tamikrest release their second album. Their debut album Adagh generated a buzz throughout the world and was met with enthusiasm from fans and critics alike who agreed that these young musicians are focusing the rebellious power of rock music in their own special way. Tamikrest are from Kidal, a remote desert town in the northwest of the Sahara, some 2,000 kilometers north of the capital, Bamako. The band members are all Tuaregs, a group of people that is spread all over North and some of West Africa, i.e. Niger, Mali, Algeria, Burkina Faso and Libya. In ancient times, the Tuareg were the proud rulers of the Sahara, but their territory was divided in different countries and they had to fight long and hard for independence. Between 1990 and 1995 this fight evolved into a bloody civil war. After the war, many of the rebel fighters traded the Kalashnikovs and hand grenades for guitars and microphones. The band Tinariwen is the most prominent example of the unusual establishment of peace through the spirit of music. But their mission is carried further in their songs. The members of Tamikrest are substantially younger than Tinariwen's and they have not actively fought in the war, but there is a close resemblance between both bands. Just like Tinariwen, Tamikrest have found a way to translate the pulse of the blues -- whose roots lie in North Africa -- back to the Tuareg language, Tamaschek. They take generators deep into the desert to have electricity for their guitars in search for the perfect synthesis of their traditional ritual drumming with the music of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley. When the band was founded in 2006, they had a hard time getting exposure in their homeland as it proved to be difficult for music with ancient traditions in a country that is flooded with Western-influenced hip-hop and pop. Things changed abruptly when they played the Festival Au Desert in 2008 and met with the American/Australian band Dirtmusic made up of Chris Eckman (Walkabouts), Chris Brokaw (Come) and Hugo Race (Hugo Race & True Spirit). With their second album, the young Tuareg rebels create their own universe using even brighter colors. The enchanted ancient mystique of the songs captures the ear immediately, but as the music carries on, the band bridges the gap between African blues and hypnotic dub, psychedelic funk and an almost supernatural kind of desert garage. The guitars are more offensive, the groove deepens and the Tamaschek chants merge with the meandering guitar riffs like a caravan voyage through ancient times. Tamikrest are ready to embrace the future while proudly maintaining the rich tradition of their folk.