Tinariwen Downloads

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Tinariwen

From: Africa > Mali

Genres: Blues, Folk, Malian Pop, Rock/Pop, World Fusion, World Pop, Tradimodern, Traditional

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Tinariwen is a Touareg group from the southern Sahara whose music is close to the blues of Ali Farka Toure. The band's name means "empty places" which certainly reflects their desert homeland.

Forced from their nomadic life in the Sahara, they were fighters in the Touareg insurgency against the Malian government. So, the band formed in 1982 in Colonel Ghadaffi's rebel camps.

The Libyan leader recruited this nation-less and disenfranchised people with promises to help them in their cause. Ghadaffi implied that he would train the Kel Tamashek and provide weapons to fight for their independence from the Malian government, but eventually the stateless rebels slowly realized that Ghadaffi's only intention was to use these fierce fighters in his own wars.

Radicalized by war and drought, Tinariwen invented a new style of music known as Tishoumaren, or music of the ishumar. Ishumar, which means unemployed, refers to a generation of young, enraged Tamashek exiles: people who left their stomping grounds for work after much repression and drought in Mali. Tinariwen wanted to carry on traditional music, but in exile they could rarely find the 30 or more musicians necessary to play the style. They have combined traditional musical forms with a modern rebellious and radical rock sensibility -- traditional instruments such as the teherdent lute and shepherd flute were discarded in favor of the electric guitar, electric bass and drums.

Their Music is loosely based on traditional Touareg music and the harsh melodies of the one-stringed Touareg violin, but also incorporates influences such as Bob Marley together with the other disparate influences, both western and middle eastern, which managed to penetrate that far into the desert.

With no postal or phone system to carry messages of resistance, Tinriwen's music became the underground telephone for the rebellion. 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 their people's expulsion to Algeria and of the claims for sovereignty and self-determination.

Their cassettes were banned in Mali and Algeria and anyone carrying a recording risked bodily harm by the authorities.
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Aman Iman: Water Is Life

Tinariwen’s songs, almost always constructed over five-tone scales and wreathed in handclaps, are propelled by icy-hot guitars over sinuous French and Tamashek vocals. The material sometimes contains recollections of other Malian luminaries, such as Amadou and Mariam, Habib Koité, Oumou Sangaré, and the late Ali Farka Touré, plus New World descendants like Bo Diddley,...
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All songs just $0.99 each!

	Title	Length
	Cler Achel	4:27

	Mano Dayak	5:43

	Matadjem Yinmixan	5:45

	Ahimana	4:58

	Soixante Trois	4:13

	Toumast	4:26

	Imidiwan Winakalin	4:27

	Awa Didjen	4:14

	Ikyadarh Dim	3:37

	Tamatant Tilay	3:21

	Assouf	3:58

	Izarharh Tenere	5:01

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Amassakoul

Music and poetry often cross paths with war. For the Tuaregs, poetry has long been a symbolic expression of the pain and suffering of war, just as their sword dances are a choreographic representations of real battles. With camel culture close to extinction and the Malian peace accords of 1992 providing only token relief from years of conflict, the songs of Tinariwen mourn the passing of the...
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All songs just $0.99 each!

	Title	Length
	Amassakoul 'n' T�n�r�	3:23

	Oualahila Ar Tesninam	3:46

	Chatma	5:35

	Arawan	4:05

	Chet Boghassa	3:52

	Amidinin	2:51

	T�n�r� Daf�o Nikchan	4:50

	Aldhechen Manin	3:53

	Alkhar Dessouf	4:55

	Eh Massina Sintadoben	4:29

	Assoul	4:05

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The Radio Tisdas Sessions

Out of the desert comes Tinariwen, a band of nomads with electric guitars. The Kel Tamashek, as the Touareg refer to themselves, fiercely resisted the French and the Malian government. The Tinariwen sound emerged when members were in exile in Libya listening to Bob Marley and John Lennon. They decided to apply their traditional music to the electric guitar and became the musical mouthpiece of the...
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All songs just $0.99 each!

	Title	Length
	Le Chant Des Fauves	7:31

	Nar Djenetbouba	4:46

	Imidiwaren	6:26

	Zin Es Gourmeden	5:21

	Afours Afours	5:27

	Tessalit	3:58

	Khedou Khedou	6:12

	Mataraden Anexan	5:46

	Bismillah	4:21

	Tin-Essako (Live)	2:07

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating (12 reviews)

Review of Tinariwen
Downloaded Amassakoul'N'Tnere. Heard them playing in Womad festival. Fantastic rhythms and melodies. Good to have discovered them!

Radio Tisdas
Actually both albums are equally exceptional- fantastic stuff

Music from the Sahara desert, straight into Eden for Live8 - top stuff.

Amassakoul

Amassakoul
The hottest sound around, Tinariwen proved great blues licks flowing through a sub-saharan groove puts African roots and rock and roll in a contagious union on top of the world! They are the bomb and becoming groovier with every concert and release.

one of the more solid efforts
although a tad uneven, i would recommend this group to anyone looking to catch up on world music. the first album is better, though - especially the first two songs (le chant des fauvres and Nar Djenetbouba).

can't buy the downloads in Denmark...
what a shame, I cannot purchase Tinariwen downloads in my region! Great music, just saw theit performance on the Africa Calling-DVD. Volkmar

Amassakoul
The magical band from the Sahara -mustical!

Amassakoul
Magical sounds from the Sahara -incredible guitar, lyrics, drum and essence of the desert

cler achel
i had a luck to hear them playing live, it was great experience, magical world music, became real addict to those sounds!!!

Aman Iman
The studio recordings are excellent, but live is where the music and the musicians come alive. Can't get the melodies out of my head.