Tinariwen, 1

Many musicians write and sing about living hard lives. Some of them actually have lived them. And a few have lived through, and done, things that most of us only can imagine.

In the words of their FaceBook page, "Tinariwen are poet-guitarists and soul rebels from the Southern Sahara desert. Their music expresses the aspirations of their people, the Kel Tamashek or 'Touareg' of the southern Sahara desert. The guitar is their weapon. Simplicity is Freedom."

The leader of Tinariwen is Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, born in what now is northern Mali. As a small child, Alhabib saw his father killed by Malian soldiers. He grew up in refugee camps in Libya and Algeria, learning his people's traditional music but also listening to Algerian rai, Moroccan chaabi, and Western rock and blues, which became significant influences on Tinariwen. Alhabib met the original members of Tinariwen in Algeria, where they participated together in military training for projected Tuareg insurgencies, recruited additional members and built up their own collective.

After returning to Mali in 1989, several of the members of Tinariwen actually *did* participate in an armed insurgency, which ended in a peace agreement with the Malian central government in early 1991. Then they lay down their weapons, became full-time musicians, and began spreading their message a new way. "From the Kalashnikov to the guitar.....only the positive".

But still they were rebels: they made cassettes and distributed them around a region with no radio, no newspapers and (then) no Internet, building a following the only way they could. They built a recording studio and invited other musicians to come there and record for free. And they played on until the Western world "discovered" them, launching them on a series of worldwide tours and recording dates.

So what does the music sound like? Listen (and watch):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcqlOq1cjjc

And if you want to take a little more time to hear Tinariwen's story first hand, watch this 11-minute video from Al Jazzeera English:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MHAKNL-Vkg

"The desert shows you nothing; you must find everything....."

Tinariwen play at Millenium Park in Chicago on Thursday, June 17. I'll be there, and I hope that some of you can too!