Tinariwen at the UC Theatre Berkeley

Tinariwen, Tinariwen, Tinariwen- how do we describe the transcendent experience of seeing Tinariwen. 

For those of you who have never experienced this band, a bit of background- their founding member and frontman, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, witnessed his father’s execution at age four after an uprising in Mali in 1963. Growing up in refugee camps in Algeria, he built his first guitar from a tin can, a stick, and bicycle brake wire, and he first began to teach himself on this before a local Arab man gave him his first guitar.

Protest music from all corners of the world formed his, and the rest of the founding members of Tinariwen’s (Alhassane Ag Touhami and brothers Inteyeden Ag Ablil and Liya Ag Ablil in Tamanrasset) inspiration- Moroccan groups, Algerian pop rai, and Western acts like Hendrix, Santana, Presley, and Marley. It’s easy to see their influence in the skill and swagger of Ag Alhabib and acoustic guitarist Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni. Tinariwen is ultimately a collective of musicians, and it’s rare you see the same touring group twice.

Tinariwen literally means ‘The Desert Boys’, as they were called before they had a formal band name, and it fits this elegant group of musicians, who infuse their native musical style and instruments with Western guitars and rock n’ roll, like a glove. 

Read the full The Danger!Sound writeup, living at tracygrahamcracker.com.