Tinariwen are guitar-poets from the southern Sahara desert. They are icons of freedom and resistance among their own people, the nomadic Touareg of the Sahara.
Tinariwen's edgy, bluesy sound has earned them fans like Robert Plant and Carlos Santana, whose music inspired Tinariwen's members when they first picked up guitars. In early albums, the group transposed the traditional melodies of the Touareg on the electric guitar, mixing them with blues, rock, pop, Berber and Arabic influences.
Tinariwen have mostly put aside their electric guitars in this latest album Tassili. They have returned to the acoustics they first played together, backing the rhythmic playing with small hand drums and clapping. They've invited in a few friends as well. Nels Cline (WILCO) contributes a beautiful wash of ambient guitar to opener “Imidiwan ma Tennam”, two members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band add rough, sonorous texture to “Ya Messinagh”, and TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe are on hand on five songs, adding subtle backing harmonies and even a bit of lead vocal on one song.