#niger desert blues

[solarpunkani]

I think one thing that would be nice to see explored a bit more in Solarpunk art/aesthetic posts is how Solarpunk will likely look different depending on where you are, what’s feasible in that area, weather patterns, etc.

Like its almost 5am so I’m gonna be rambly but like. A lot of the most common features of Solarpunk art so far are a bit of an art-noveau type look, with lots of stained glass. Heavy emphasis on solar power and windpower and trees. In no way, shape, or form am I going to pretend this is BAD! I love this look, I think its great and inspiring and I love the color green I just.

Maybe Solarpunk doesn’t mean ‘green’ for everyone everywhere. Solarpunk might be more… yellows, and reds, and oranges. If you live in a desert, where there aren’t a lot of trees. I’m thinking places like Arizona, New Mexico, Niger, Chad, Libya. What would solarpunk fashion look like in these places—I feel like embroidered jean overalls won’t be common here. Traditional wear from these places is GORGEOUS, and I’d love to see more of a highlight on it and these biomes in Solarpunk. What would the housing look like—how would you keep cool indoors and out? I’ve seen a few ideas put into practice, but what would you dream up? How would you make them fun?

Similarly, how about coastal communities? Sure there’d be lots of green—but green may stand for seaweed just as much as it would trees. Not to mention the vibrant blues of the sky and seas, and the rainbow of colors from coral and seashells and glittering scales. What would a solarpunk community look like along the coasts of places like Florida, Hawaii, Jamaica, etc.? How are some of these places already Solarpunk? Wind and solar power could be an option, but we can also use hydropower as well—what would a solarpunk hydropower system look like in your wildest dreams? Fish-shaped spinning turbines underwater, swimming like sharks? Would houses float and bob along the water? How would gardening be handled with mostly salt water around—rain water capture would be critical, I feel—or desalination of small amounts of salt water. What would the fashion look like HERE? What does it look like already?

What does solarpunk look like in snowy places—like Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia? When green comes around in spring and summer, but fall and winter brings expanses of snow and ice? Solarpunk fashion here would be a LOT cozier than the solarpunk fashion on a Florida beach. I’m imagining lots of furs and layers. How would traditional practices be used to stay safe and warm, how would energy be captured and stored during long and dark winters? Would communities here be more nomadic, traveling further south during the coldest months, or would they stay where they are and construct homes that easily stay warm with little output?

Its actively 5am now so if I don’t make sense by all means. I guess I don’t make sense. But this has been on my mind for a few days now and I guess as we get closer to Solarpunk Aesthetic Week, this can be a fun and interesting thing to keep in mind! Let this inspire your art, your music, your fashion, your stories, your musing, and how you reach out to others about the ideals of Solarpunk.

[dustedmagazine]

Listening Post: Mdou Moctar

Mdou Moctar is, without question, one of the pre-eminent rock guitarists of our time, as much a master of heavy, hazy grooves as of double-tapped Van Halen-esque shreddery. His music is steeped in a very specific desert blues aesthetic, the swaying, side-to-side rhythms that evoke camel caravans, the keening call and response that suggests lonely attempts at communion in remote campsites, the hard-bashed but intricate percussion, the silky multi-colored tunics that the band sports onstage. And yet, it’s universal in the same amp fried lineage as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eddie Hazel and, oh right, Eddie van Halen.

Dusted has been enamored of Mdou Moctar for quite some time, beginning with Patrick Masterson’s highly entertaining review of the Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai OST in 2015—the music for a remake of Prince’s Purple Rain in the Tamashek language— on Sahel Sounds.Masterson observed, “The idea of a Tuareg Purple Rain would have been unthinkable in 1984, not least of all because —and I cannot stress enough how funny I find this — there is no Tamashek word for ‘purple.’ Yet, 31 years later, here we are — the magic of a smaller world has helped bring an academic outsider’s joke to life. The punchline, of course, is that it’s as good as advertised.”

We collectively fell for Ilana (The Creator) and its out-of-hand shredding in 2019.Isaac Olsen noted, “If you still have a punk-induced allergy to flashy guitar solos, be warned; there’s not a track on Ilana where Moctar doesn’t take every available opportunity to — no other word for it — shred. Fortunately, Moctar earns the right to play his ass off by recruiting a band whose hungry energy matches and spurs on his own and by, for the first time, writing a whole album of tunes worthy of his chops.” The record brought a normally fractious Dusted roster to unity and dominated the 2019 Mid-Year feature.

Two years later, Afrique Victime won praise for its less showy, more groovy vibe. Said Jennifer Kelly in her review, “While he’s been one of rock music’s best guitarists for a while, the larger platform takes him out of the niche desert blues category and into the broader multinational arena. He might be excused for capitalizing by leaning into the rock elements of his sound, but instead, he’s putting forward the droning, mystic, call-and-response twilight magic of northwest African guitar music.”

And so we come to Funeral for Justice, another scorcher. The new record is as sharp and impassioned as any Moctar and his band have done so far, and it is inflamed with political energy. It comes after a period of exile after civil war in Niger. It calls out the injustices of colonialism, economic inequality and exploitation in cuts including the title track, “Oh France” and “Modern Slaves.” It cooks on the strength of a band that has never sounded better or more locked in, and it has one or two guitar solos, too.

Intro by Jennifer Kelly

Jennifer Kelly: How are you all liking the new Mdou Moctar? I’m feeling like it’s the best thing he’s ever done, not different exactly but more intense and volcanic. Definitely turned up to 11. 

Bill Meyer: My first reaction is that while Funeral For Justice definitely foregrounds the shredding, I miss the layered sound of Afrique Victime. But I’m tickled to hear the increased prominence of electronic percussion and autotune. It’s kind of a roots move, given that the first time a lot of people heard him was on a tune originally identified only as “Autotune,” which appeared on the Sahel Sounds compilation, Music From Saharan Cellphones. 

Tim Clarke: I saw Mdou Moctar live last year at a music festival, and it was very loud and thrilling. This is the first time I've listened to a full album. It makes me realize how little I'm drawn to fast guitar playing! And the band's trademark "cantering" rhythm feels like a bit of a musical rut. But when they explore outside these parameters, things get more interesting, especially when they play around with a mix of recording fidelities at the start of second track, "Imouhar." I also like the fact the record is concise and well-paced. Definitely piqued my interest to hear more of what the band can do. 

Christian Carey: The combination of desert blues and intense rock solos is amazing - and fairly singular. The group vocals create an appealing contrast to Mdou's shredding. 

I'm not sure that he can raise the intensity level any higher than this — turned up to 12?

Jennifer Kelly: I'm so glad you guys picked up on this. Lots to think about.

First regarding Bill's comment about a "rootsier" sound, it's complicated isn't it?

We look to third world artists for authenticity, which in its most reductive form means less electrification, fewer electronics, etc. But as Bill points out, Mdou's early stuff was heavily autotuned, as for instance here:

And a lot of the Sahel Sounds’ (and thanks, Bill, for making sure we gave them credit for being first with this stuff) cellphone compilations have a very slick, disco-electronic vibe. And that's music largely produced for African audiences without much consideration of a global audience. So which is authentic?

Also, my understanding, Tim, is that the rhythm is based on the way camels walk and a nod to West Africa's nomadic culture and heritage? You hear the same beat in Tinawarin's stuff.

Tim Clarke: I can definitely hear the camel's gait in the cantering rhythm section, that slightly awkward, loping feel. It's certainly unique.

Bryon Hayes: The almost hard rock riff in the intro of the title track originally confused me (did I put the right album on?), but I found it really powerful upon further spins of the album, especially how it segues into the cantering rhythm. Also, the roar as the lower fidelity section of “Imouhar” transitions to a higher fidelity is downright mind-melting! He’s experimenting with song form, and it really works.

Michael Rosenstein: As much as I've liked Mdou Moctar's music, I have to admit that this one is starting to lose me a bit. But that has way more to do with my musical proclivities than it does to the music at hand. What originally drew me to Moctar's music was the rawness of it; that uneasy balance of "shredding" that others have mentioned with a trance-like, cyclical flow. That was really foregrounded in his early albums like Afelan or Anar both of which were released a decade ago. This new one sounds, to my ears, much more heavily produced and fussed over. I admit, though, that I'm really uneasy with my assessment in that, as much as I hope I'm not, I fear I am just bringing my old, white, privileged judgement to bear. Is this just me judging that the music is no longer "authentic" enough? Or is it just that he is embracing the rock leanings inherent to his music and that just resonates less with me?

I do find it curious that, as far as I can tell, none of Moctar's music on Sahel Sounds is available anymore (including the one track on Music from Saharan Cellphones: Volume 2 referenced by Bill.) I have no idea if that is by his choice, by contractual obligations with Matador, or by the choice of the Sahel Sounds folks.

Jennifer Kelly: I noticed that those records were missing, too, when I looked for the Sahel Sounds records to hear the autotune. I wonder what happened?

Some of the songs are still very trance-y..."Imouhar," for example, especially at the beginning (it gets loud later), "Takoba" all the way through. The production seems about the same as on Afrique Victime to me, clean but not overly so. (Though, I will admit that I probably like the rock stuff more than Michael does.)

We haven't really talked about the political backdrop to this record, have we? The fact that Civil War in Niger has left them stranded in the States since 2023. I don't speak Tamshek but it seems that a lot of the songs with English titles are about politics and colonialism, which may affect the way they play and present the material, yes? It's different from writing songs about village life or falling in love with the local beauty.

Ian Mathers: I'll admit, there's at least a part of me that wishes this whole record was just unabashedly Going For It as hard as the opening title track does. Not that I don't like the relatively more restrained material; I'm not terribly knowledgeable about African music in general but "Takoba" reminds me of one of the few records from the continent I do very much know and love, the one Ali Farka Toure did with Ry Cooder (Talking Timbuktu) that my dad played all the time when I was in high school. Toure was from Mali, which at least shares a border with Niger, so hopefully I'm not being too ignorant hearing similarities in some of the guitar playing there. The more monomaniacally the band gets cooking here, generally, the more I like it (I really like "Sousoume Tamacheq," for example). I think I probably like it a little more than (the also excellent!) Afrique Victime, although I think for similar but opposite reasons to Michael, that it's just more to my taste and not necessarily a better record.

I'd also love to see a full set of lyrics/translations, and everything I've read about the sociopolitical context of the band and this music has been fascinating, but mostly right I'm just appreciating and enjoying this record in a similar way to, say, Oneida's "Sheets of Easter" or that U SCO record I picked for our 2023 Slept On round up.

Tim Clarke: Further to what you're saying about enjoying the "everything on 11" aspect of Moctar's sound, I can't help wondering what the band would sound like recorded by Steve Albini. That I'd like to hear!

Ian Mathers: Oh, good point; maybe because we talked about African Head Charge a while back I'm now also wondering what Adrian Sherwood would make of them.

Bill Meyer: I don’t think you’re too far off the mark in seeing a similarity between Moctar’s and Ali Farka Toure’s music, Ian. Toure worked with the languages and styles of several ethnic groups from the Malian interior, soI’m sure he would have been acquainted with the precedents for what Moctar does. Moctar is from subsequent generation, so his music is more in touch with what has been popular in the Sahel in this century. But another thing they both have in common is that they’ve been worked a lot on non-African stages, gotten hold of gear that isn’t particularly available back home, and undergone a personal course of development on a world stage. 

Their politics are different, though. I think Toure was the mayor (or something similar) of his town. He was pretty invested in fostering the stability of the existing Malian state, thus all the songs in different languages that encouraged people to get along. He was the big man in town who responsibly leveraged his popularity as a musician to obtain resources for his community. Your CD purchases generated income for Niafunke’s farming community. Moctar, on the other hand, was just another guy on the street, albeit an artistically ambitious one, until musical opportunities permitted him to tour and make records outside of Niger. His stance, as far as I can grasp it, is critical of African leaders who don’t look out for their people, and even more critical of the foreign powers that have run roughshod over his country (mostly France and the US). 

Matador came through with the lyrics.

[Here are some excerpts.]

“ FUNERAL FOR JUSTICE”

Dear African leaders, hear my burning question

Why does your ear only heed France and America? 

They misled you into giving up your lands

They delightfully watch you in your fraternal feud

They possess the power to help out but chose not to

Why is that? When your rights are trodden upon

 Why is that? When your rights are trodden upon

“ MODERN SLAVES”

Oh world, why be so selective about human beings? 

Oh world, why be so selective about human beings? 

My people are crying while you laugh

My people are crying while you laugh

All you do is watch

All you do is watch

Oh world, why be so selective about counrties?

Oh world, why be so selective about counrties? 

Yours are well built while ours are being destroyed

Yours are well built while ours are being destroyed.

Jennifer Kelly: Wow, that is fiery stuff. 

Ian Mathers: I can also see in the translated lyrics even more of a connection between the two countries, with Tamasheq described as "A helpless orphan abandoned by 3 countries / Mali-Niger, Niger-Mali and Algeria as the third." Interesting to note the gap between Toure and Moctar's respective places in society (at least right now, for Moctar). I didn't specifically think of reggae when I was reading the lyrics, Bill, but once you point it out there does seem to be a number of shared themes, maybe even some metaphors and imagery, there.

[studiothetics]

AUDIO

Hi. How are you? Kinda hot out, huh? Not too bad though. Nice jacket… Yeah… Oh, are you waiting for me? Oh man I’m sorry I was just — you know. Anyways, yeah I’m Evan, you know me, I draw them pictures but that’s not all I do, no sir, I am multidimensional, like an egg, insofar as an egg got the old xyz axes what tell it what volume it occupy within cartesian space, but it’s also got them eggy subcomponents what create division WITHIN the larger organizing dimensional paradigms of space and time. So like the egg I do persist in reality but I simultaneously occupy different spacial organizations. I draw them pichahs, shuah mistah j, I also write words as I’m sure you’ve noticed, but that’s just the shell and the whites, down there somewhere is a runny yolk comprised not of lines, color, or hallucinations of meaning but of SOUND.

I also do audio is what I’m saying. More pertinently I sometimes do audio for Thetics stuff. Nearly all of it is under wraps but recently we bashed together a little low-stakes actual play podcast pilot and I thought it might be fun to show you how the intro music happened. Walk with me. (Character art part 3 is still in the pipes, up next.)

The current intro music for our little podcast Argent.

Now this is an odd bit of work for me because I'm normally a cahhhmpahsishin* fellow but for this piece I did nearly everything but write the parts. It’s really a kitbash of musical ideas from various things that I arranged and recorded.

*composition. If you can tell me why I’m doing this bullshit, please do, I’d really love to know.

When we were first tossing the idea for this podcast around (way before we started putting it together or anything) Sasha sent me a little melody they imagined on guitar, and I recorded it and sent it back to them with a little expansion.

Music is often an early thought for us in our projects. Having themes or motifs or ideas about instrumentation can help us create a visceral sense of feelings we’re aiming for. In long writing or design stretches, they act like anchors, a place to return to, or verify our current work with.

Here, there was this lovely sense of troubadour-ish-ness with the single guitar, an intimate kind of feeling, like someone was there in the room with you, playing in this very stripped down yet melodic manner you might characterize as vaguely renaissance pastiche. Anchor set, it had something to it musically and it married well with the nature of the program, relatively light, a little trope-y, that good ol’ mixolydian brightness lighting up a sense of majesty and adventure. That being said, we knew it wouldn’t be the whole picture. There was more to find.

Dinky lil things. I like sketching with dinky sounds cause it sorta takes expressivity out of the equation, makes you focus on the notes.

I did a lot of sketches with little dinky music box noises and strings and whatnot, tried expanding out the guitar sections with folk-isms and fingerpicky stuff, but nothing really clicked. To my ear we were missing something, a feeling of expanse and motion. The main character in our podcast is a courier traveling the country, after all.

Thinking about travel put me in mind of music I’d been listening to from West Africa. I’d gone down a little guitar douche rabbit hole, having gotten introduced to Oumou Sangare and lapping up projects featuring her guitarist and then out into more work by your Ali Farka Touré, your Tinariwen, etc. I imagine this is the kind of thing every guitar guy does when they’re confronted by “desert blues” stuff, and it’s for good reason. It’s a bridge between many different traditions, and it’s produced a style of guitar playing that is both very interpretable to anyone who’s learned the blues scale and very different in it’s rhythmic priorities and ornamentation.

Afel Bocoum's Niger stuck out to me as a really wonderful picture of motion, expressed through it's rhythmic motifs and groove. It is, as you may imagine, a song about the Niger river, and I find it hard not to imagine walking beside a great river when I hear it, especially when it kicks into the higher tempo and you get the little triplet figure on top of the 16th note engine -- just the perfect amount of syncopation to give it a real spring in its step. It's also worth noting that these dudes are all real good musicians, and their improvisation and interplay gives all their music so much life and unpredictability. Listening to artists like this convinced me utterly that the core of music for the podcast had to be something played live, that we should really minimize elements like synths or samples.

To be fair, that's usually a thing I want. I tend to write a lot of guitar-forward stuff for projects as a result, but there are things which always wind up compromised when working alone. For example I am not a drummer, I do not own a drumkit and software drums trying to sound real nearly always wind up sounding pretty lame. In all my time doing music production the best drum sounds i've gotten out of software have been leaning into their un-reality. But then you hear musicians like this and you remember oh man live percussion is just a thousand times better. John Bonham is just a thousand times better.

Easily in my top 5 of all time

Led Zeppelin's Swan Song is nearly never not in mind when thinking about acoustic guitar music. It is possibly one of the most important tracks in my life and god damn it it's only on bootlegs! If Afel Boucoum nailed a feeling of motion through nature with Niger, Jimmy Page nailed a feeling of pastoral majesty and myth with Swan Song. It's one of them DADGAD tunes with that rich, ringing openness to the guitar. In the late 60s-early 70s rock vernacular, songs with this tuning are usually heavily blues based, and you hear a lot of inflections like that here but it's all cast in this much more regal light through more complex harmony. Contrasts. The V chord that opens the section around 1:20 sounds so welcome and grand contrasted to the flighty major 7s running around, the song dancing modally between major* and mixolydian. Really, a V chord has never sounded better, contrasted with the heaviness of the low D5.

*yeah if you wanna use modal terminology it's ionian. Hush, I'm trying to write.

Now this is what was floating around in my head like a year ago when we were discussing the project. It's really quite fertile ground for music making, but! As it sometimes goes, other projects took precedence. DT2 became kind of a full time gig for us and if we were gonna be doing audio for things we ought to be doing audio things for that. So Argent got shelved, and further musical explorations with it.

Which is why it was kind of bizarre to pick it back up when we decided to pitch it. Back in those early discussions we'd recorded a couple test episodes, real barebones affairs with awful audio and a very shakey gameplay system, that we were gonna use for our submission. It seemed pretty apparent we needed to sorta class the joint up a bit so my plan was to score some of the episode and bash together an intro as quick as possible.

What does an intro need, really? In my estimation, it needs a bed for voice-over, a section where the music takes the forefront that is distinctive and hooky, and some kind of dismount. Not a whole lot really. I spent a bit of time writing stuff trying to pull together the influences noted above into that format, but it became apparent that it was just gonna take more time than we had to get a thing I was really happy with.

Scoring also wound up being a bit of a dud. I wrote a billion little sections on guitar that I was quite happy with but with the awful audio quality of the actual episode, and what wound up being a pretty mediocre setup for acoustic guitar recording, the production just wound up being distracting, the voices and guitar competing for already shakey auditory real estate. We'll have to try that again with better equipment.

So. Compromise. Temporary stopgap measure. I can't make the bulk of the show sound particularly pleasing, I don't have time to compose an intro that really does the thing musically, and I can't record my acoustic guitar to a high standard. I CAN WORK WITH THIS!

Step 1: solve for the guitar.

I know the piece will still have more personality if the acoustic guitar is the main feature. So, ok, time to try a bunch of shit out. I am no stranger to fucked ass audio solutions (you can go look at my old band STRIDER's insta page https://www.instagram.com/strider.tunes/ to understand the depravity) so I know at the very least I can get something to work.

Hypothesis 1: record using my phone.

I've actually had some luck recording with my phone before. Most phones have really aggressive compression going on that can sometimes work to bring up the detail with acoustic guitar, and you also get some nice lo-fi credibility with it.

The lo-fi thing is a double edged sword though cause while the tonality is livable, a lot of noise is not, and I could not get a recording that didn't have a pretty sizable hiss. Add on further compression in the mix and it's a dealbreaker.

Hypothesis 2: weird mic placement

Conventional wisdom regarding acoustic guitar mic placement does not and has never worked with my acoustic guitar. I love that guitar, I've had it since I was like 14, but god damn it doesn't like to be recorded, and especially not with an SM7b which is the best I got right now. So time to just try everything, put the mic in the sound hole, fuckin put it behind me, above me, next door.

The best one I found is kind of over the guitar in front of my shoulder, sort of where my head would be if I got real hunchy when playing. Still sorta sounds weak, but it's better! This is progress.

Hypothesis 3: Double everything

Jacob Collier mentioned in one of his gigantic logic session breakdowns that a voice that sounds kinda corny can sound really legit if it's doubled or tripled or whatever. This guitar is a little reedy, a little thin on it's own but if I just double track everything...

Now that somehow sounds authoritative. Bam!

Step 2: Grab the parts.

If I'm not gonna have the time to compose a new thing that's really unique and speaks to all our influences, why not just use the influences? Not like we're selling this or anything, this is just to legitimize a pitch. Sasha's initial melody fits the bill for narration bed, Niger fits as the hook, and Swan Song really amps it up for the dismount.

Step 3: Arrange/Produce/Record/Mix

With the melodic and harmonic side basically in place, it's time to figure out the supporting instrumentation. That means settling on things like percussion and bass, drones or textural things, and little odds and ends.

Quite a manageable mix, overall.

I'll spare you a full session breakdown, but let's take a look at some lil details you might miss.

When I was putting together the percussion section I quantized pretty hard at first, getting everything very close to the grid, but these lil bongo and scrape guys had a completely different feel. The loop was from a previous project, played by like a real human, and it's all quite wonky, a lot of it hits very early relative to the grid but it sounds totally natural. So rather than trying to smooth that out, I just made everything else mirror it's wonkiness. It was tedious work scooting all those notes around to mimic those imperfections but the track is much livelier for it.

Speaking of the percussion, there are actually four distinct kick drum sounds on this track (plus some very quiet timpani in the opening). They got very different functions, too. The first is like the core kick drum sound. It's supposed to be pretty acoustic sounding, have some nuance in it's dynamics, but not have too much beef or midrange complexity, because the second is the big boy with that huge low end, you know what brings the grandeur to the proceedings, and then there's the third fellow who hangs out with the first one and marries it with the texture of the snare drum. Fourth is the little knocky fellow who closes things out with the guitar at the very end.

Lastly, lets note the final plagiarism in this piece. The vocal line that comes in at the end (which Sasha sang wonderfully and I aggressively pitch shifted and modulated) is from a piece by Goldfrapp called Crystalline Green.

There you have it folks! That's a track! I'll leave you with a final thingy: The outtro! I accumulated a lot of drone-y things trying stuff out for the intro, so I took the percussion sections and some of those drone-y things and blasted this out in like half an hour.

[affairesasuivre]

Ilana : The Creator par Mdou Moctar

Mdou Moctar immediately stands out as one of the most innovative artists in contemporary Saharan music. His unconventional interpretations of Tuareg guitar and have pushed him to the forefront of a crowded scene. Back home, he's celebrated for his original compositions and verbose poetry, an original creator in a genre defined by cover bands. In the exterior, where Saharan rock has become one of the continents biggest musical exports, he's earned a name for himself with his guitar moves. Mdou shreds with a relentless and frenetic energy that puts his contemporaries to shame.

Mdou Moctar hails from a small village in central Niger in a remote region steeped in religious tradition. Growing up in an area where secular music was all but prohibited, he taught himself to play on a homemade guitar cobbled together out of wood. It was years before he found a “real” guitar and taught himself to play in secret. His immediately became a star amongst the village youth. In a surprising turn, his songs began to win over local religious leaders with their lyrics of respect, honor, and tradition. In 2008, Mdou traveled to Nigeria to record his debut album of spacey autotune, drum machine, and synthesizer. The album became a viral hit on the mp3 networks of West Africa, and was later released on the compilation “Music from Saharan Cellphones.” In 2013, he released “Afelan,” compiled from field recordings of his performances recorded in his village. Then he shifted gears, producing and starring the first Tuareg language film, a remake of Prince's Purple Rain (“Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in it”). Finally, in 2017, he created a solo folk album, “Sousoume Tamachek,” a mellow blissed out recording evoking the calm desert soundscape. Without a band present, he played every instrument on the record. "I am a very curious person and I want to push Tuareg music far,” he says.

A long time coming, “Ilana” is Mdou's first true studio album with a live band. Recorded in Detroit at the tail end of a US tour by engineer Chris Koltay (the two met after bonding over ZZ Top's “Tres Hombres”), the band lived in the studio for a week, playing into the early hours. Mdou was accompanied by an all-star band: Ahmoudou Madassane's (Les Filles de Illighadad) lighting fast rhythm guitar, Aboubacar Mazawadje's machine gun drums, and Michael Coltun's structured low-end bass. The album was driven by lots of spontaneity – Mdou's preferred method of creation – jumping into action whenever inspiration struck. The resulting tracks were brought back to Niger to add final production: additional guitar solos, overdubs of traditional percussion, and a general ambiance of Agadez wedding vibes. The result is Mdou's most ambitious record to date. “Ilana” takes the tradition laid out by the founders into hyperdrive, pushing Tuareg guitar into an ever louder and blistering direction. In contrast to the polished style of the typical “world music” fare, Mdou trades in unrelenting grit and has no qualms about going full shred. From the spaghetti western licks of “Tarhatazed,” the raw wedding burner “Ilana,” to the atmospheric Julie Cruise-ish ballad "Tumastin,” Mdou's new album seems at home amongst some of the great seminal Western records. But Mdou disagrees with the classification. Mdou grew up listening to the Tuareg guitar greats, and it was only in the past few years on tour that he was introduced to the genre. "I don't know what rock is exactly, I have no idea,” he says, I only know how to play in my style." For Mdou, this style is to draw on both modern and traditional sources and combine elements into new forms. In “Ilana” Mdou reaches back into Tuareg folklore for inspiration, riffing on the hypnotic loops of takamba griots, or borrowing vocal patterns from polyphonic nomad songs, and combining them with his signature guitar. You can hear the effect in tracks like “Kamane Tarhanin,” where a call and response lyric lifts up over a traditional vocal hum before breaking into a wailing solo with tapping techniques learned from watching Youtube videos of Eddie Van Halen. There is an urgency in Mdou's music, and the fury of the tracks are matched by their poignant messages. The title track “Ilana” is a commentary on uranium exploitation by France in Niger: “Our benefits are only dust / And our heritage is taken by the people of France / occupying the valley of our ancestors.” Other times, he delves into the complexities of love, but always with delicate poetics: “Oh my love, think of my look when I walked toward the evening / Tears fell from my face, from the tears that fell green trees grew / And love rested in the shade.” As Mdou travels the world, he divides his time between two places, alternating from lavish weddings in Agadez to sold out concerts in Berlin nightclubs. It offers a unique perspective, but also means that he needs to address different audiences. At home, his compositions send a message to his people. Abroad, his music is an opportunity to be heard and represent his people on a world stage. For the cover art, Mdou conceptualized a Saharan bird flying over the desert. “This bird is my symbol because he resembles my artistic look. I wear a turban in two colors. The jewelry in its beak is the symbol of Agadez.” It's a poignant idea, as the bird flies off over the desert, it carries its home wherever it goes. It's not so different than what Mdou hopes he can do with his music. "I'm just an ambassador, like a messenger of music, telling what is happening in my world.” “Ilana” is an invitation to listen, at a time when a message could not be needed more. créditsparu le 29 mars 2019

[lamilanomagazine]

Tutti gli appuntamenti della settimana del cartellone di Bologna Estate 2023

Tutti gli appuntamenti della settimana del cartellone di Bologna Estate 2023. Tra i numerosi appuntamenti del cartellone di Bologna Estate 2023, segnaliamo alcune iniziative nella settimana dall'8 al 14 settembre. I dettagli a questo link: 8 settembre, alle 21, all'interno della rassegna Dimondi in piazza Lucio Dalla, Etran de l'Air, la più famosa 'wedding band' del deserto. Una storia di tradizione familiare che nasce ai piedi del massiccio dell'Aïr nel Niger. Il desert blues che rapisce e incanta nelle melodie degli Etran de l'Aïr. Dall'8 al 10 settembre, al Parco dell'Osservanza a Imola, Restart Urban Festival, decima edizione del festival di riqualificazione artistica e promozione delle arti di strada. Una tre giorni con musica, installazioni artistiche, street-artist da tutto il mondo. 9 settembre, Notte Blu, dalle 14 all'Opificio delle Acque, una giornata di iniziative alla scoperta dei canali in città. Evento finale al Guazzatoio con "Luce sui canali", spettacolo di Video Mapping lungo il canale di Reno. 9 - 10 settembre: Hip Hop Generation 4, in piazza Lucio Dalla torna la rassegna dedicata al mondo dell'hip hop. Bologna la strada del jazz, Gianluca Guidi, Andrea Ferrario, Barbara Cola, Guglielmo Pagnozzi, Francesco Cavestri sono tra i protagonisti dei concerti di sabato 9 e domenica 10 settembre in Piazza Maggiore. E quest'anno la Stella jazz è dedicata al pianista e compositore statunitense Bill Evans. La Battaglia della Montagnola, rievocazione storica della battaglia dell'8 agosto 1848, conosciuta come Battaglia della Montagnola: il Parco Nicholas Green si anima di cento rievocatori in uniformi storiche e abiti civili che ricostruiscono quel pomeriggio di battaglia. 9, 12 e 14 settembre, alle 21, nel Cortile del Museo Ebraico, va in scena Jewish Jazz 2023, tre proposte con Coen plays Cohen, il Duo Malastrana e Mishkalé, che in modo differente coniugano l'esperienza musicale ebraica e il linguaggio jazzistico. 10 settembre, nel cortile e teatro del Baraccano, va in scena Respighi suite, Antiche Arie e Danze per liuto. Si chiude la rassegna Atti Sonori estate con il concerto dell'Orchestra del Baraccano, diretta da Giambattista Giocoli, anticipato da una conversazione sullo spettacolo con Diego Tripodi e Marco Pedrazzi del collettivo In.Nova Fert. 11 - 12 settembre: L'Incanto della danza, spettacolo di danza, musica e parola dedicato a Dalla e Battisti ottant'anni dopo, due leggende immortali danzate e raccontate nella suggestiva cornice della Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio. A piedi nudi nel parco, alle 21, rassegna cinematografica al parco della Montagnola. Proiezioni ogni lunedì e martedì, con ingresso gratuito. Dall'11 al 17 settembre, XXIX Biennale del muro di Dozza, "Art in progress" è il titolo dell'edizione 2023 della rassegna che dal 1960, ogni due anni, prende vita nel borgo di Dozza, sopra le colline di Imola. 13 settembre, alle 21, A Sylvia: parole e musica per Sylvia Plath, per la rassegna Feminologica 6 - teatro civile al femminile, nell'Anfiteatro del Parco di Villa Spada è di scena lo spettacolo "A SYLVIA: parole e musica per Sylvia Plath". 14 settembre, alle 21, nell'ambito di JANZ, 9° Festival Jazz dell'Area Metropolitana di Bologna, in piazza Piazza Grimandi ad Anzola concerto del compositore, strumentista e ricercatore Riccardo Tesi. Tutti gli appuntamenti di Bologna Estate 2023 sono consultabili a questo link: https://www.bolognaestate.it/  ... #notizie #news #breakingnews #cronaca #politica #eventi #sport #moda Read the full article

[animal25]

Azawakh: Dog Breed, Origin, Grooming, Health, Care Full Info

A canine strain named for the Azawakh Valley in the Sahara desert where they began, this is a spare and nippy huntsman with a regal presence. They’re proud but pious and defensive of their home and family.

Although these are rare, thoroughbred tykes, you may find them in the care of harbors or deliverance groups. Flashback to borrow! Don’t shop if you want to bring one of these tykes home.

As you may guess from the appearance of the strain and their desert origins, these tykes do well in hot climates. While they love their mortal families, they can remain frosty around new people.

As sighthounds, they’ll also want to take off when they see commodity moving, which could include small creatures or indeed running children.

They need educated pet parents who can keep them from bolting, stay firm with training, and fraternize them beforehand.

Origin: Mali, Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Africa

Height: 23-29 inches

Weight: 15-25kg

Lifespan: 10-12 years

Colors: black, Brindle, blue fawn, clear sand, dark fawn, grizzle

Breed Characteristics

Altitudinous and elegant, the Azawakh is a West African sighthound that originates from the countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The Azawakh has a short, fine fleece that may come in any color or color combinations red, clear beach to fawn, brindled, parti-color ( which may be generally white), blue, black, and brown.

The head may have a black mask and there may be white markings on the legs, bib, and at the tip of the tail. There is no color or marking disqualifications in the strain. Beseeming its heritage, the Azawakh excels as a companion, guardian, and lure watchdog in the United States.

This ancient stalking hound is so spare and rangy that his bone structure and musculature can plainly be seen beneath his skin.

The smooth S-shaped silhouettes, deep casket, and aerodynamic head mark the Azawakh as a member of the sighthound family, canine sprinters that calculate on keen vision and blazing speed to fix and course their prey.

Azawakh Breed History

The Azawakh strain is also known as the Tuareg Sloughi, named after the Tuareg gadabouts. The strain has many alternate names, including Idii n’ Illeli(sighthound of the free people, or noble canine of the free people). The exact origin of the Azawakh canine is unknown, although it wasn’t until the 1970s that the strain began to come popular in certain areas.

The Azawakh is known to have begun from the Southern Sahara and Sahel areas of West Africa, skirting near Mali and Niger. The Azawakh is regarded as a regardful strain and enjoy appreciation from the gadabouts. The Azawakh developed as a result of interbreeding thousands of times agone and partake ancestors with the Saluki and Sloughi.

The Azawakh is still considered a newer strain in terms of understanding its disposition and broad history. Considered members of the family, this strain still likes to give protection against raiders and nonnatives. They’re exceptional nimrods with an eye for carrying meat and are known to hunt hare, antelope, and wild boar.

The Azawakh is famed for their grim stamina and capability to run 40 mph. They were preliminarily trained to cover camps and quest with possessors, although moment, the Azawakh prefer to hunt within a pack and aren’t known as solitary nimrods. In the 1980s, Azawakh was brought over to the United States.

The first puppies were red and fawn with white markings. The Azawakh strain isn’t presently registered with the AKC but was honored by the UKC in 1993. Although the Azawakh is still rare in the United States, it’s sluggishly climbing in fashionability.

more details:https://animalatoz.com/azawakh/

[animala2z]

Azawakh: Dog Breed, Origin, Grooming, Health, Care Full Info

A canine strain named for the Azawakh Valley in the Sahara desert where they began, this is a spare and nippy huntsman with a regal presence. They’re proud but pious and defensive of their home and family.

Although these are rare, thoroughbred tykes, you may find them in the care of harbors or deliverance groups. Flashback to borrow! Don’t shop if you want to bring one of these tykes home.

As you may guess from the appearance of the strain and their desert origins, these tykes do well in hot climates. While they love their mortal families, they can remain frosty around new people.

As sighthounds, they’ll also want to take off when they see commodity moving, which could include small creatures or indeed running children.

They need educated pet parents who can keep them from bolting, stay firm with training, and fraternize them beforehand.

Origin: Mali, Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Africa

Height: 23-29 inches

Weight: 15-25kg

Lifespan: 10-12 years

Colors: black, Brindle, blue fawn, clear sand, dark fawn, grizzle

Breed Characteristics

Altitudinous and elegant, the Azawakh is a West African sighthound that originates from the countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The Azawakh has a short, fine fleece that may come in any color or color combinations red, clear beach to fawn, brindled, parti-color ( which may be generally white), blue, black, and brown.

The head may have a black mask and there may be white markings on the legs, bib, and at the tip of the tail. There is no color or marking disqualifications in the strain. Beseeming its heritage, the Azawakh excels as a companion, guardian, and lure watchdog in the United States.

This ancient stalking hound is so spare and rangy that his bone structure and musculature can plainly be seen beneath his skin.

The smooth S-shaped silhouettes, deep casket, and aerodynamic head mark the Azawakh as a member of the sighthound family, canine sprinters that calculate on keen vision and blazing speed to fix and course their prey.

Azawakh Breed History

The Azawakh strain is also known as the Tuareg Sloughi, named after the Tuareg gadabouts. The strain has many alternate names, including Idii n’ Illeli(sighthound of the free people, or noble canine of the free people). The exact origin of the Azawakh canine is unknown, although it wasn’t until the 1970s that the strain began to come popular in certain areas.

The Azawakh is known to have begun from the Southern Sahara and Sahel areas of West Africa, skirting near Mali and Niger. The Azawakh is regarded as a regardful strain and enjoy appreciation from the gadabouts. The Azawakh developed as a result of interbreeding thousands of times agone and partake ancestors with the Saluki and Sloughi.

The Azawakh is still considered a newer strain in terms of understanding its disposition and broad history. Considered members of the family, this strain still likes to give protection against raiders and nonnatives. They’re exceptional nimrods with an eye for carrying meat and are known to hunt hare, antelope, and wild boar.

The Azawakh is famed for their grim stamina and capability to run 40 mph. They were preliminarily trained to cover camps and quest with possessors, although moment, the Azawakh prefer to hunt within a pack and aren’t known as solitary nimrods. In the 1980s, Azawakh was brought over to the United States.

The first puppies were red and fawn with white markings. The Azawakh strain isn’t presently registered with the AKC but was honored by the UKC in 1993. Although the Azawakh is still rare in the United States, it’s sluggishly climbing in fashionability.

[spymeister]

Built a bamboo canoe on the shore of Peru And piloted that mothersucker to Kathmandu Got lost beneath the Tropic of Cancer in June During the monsoon season, I didn't know what to do

Met a few Somali pirates, made me one of their crew Took a big ship from mooring now I'm hunting for you Went smooth to the Sudan, we made a few moves Needed money to cross the desert, trying to run into you

At night, we drink Tea Stars, cover and soothe I can't sleep my eyes wide, I'm picturing you The lights are playing tricks on my mind, I assume 'Cause I'm seeing your face glisten' in the neck of the moon

Seeing your face glisten' in the neck of the moon Got me daydreaming the night through, thinking of you As sky strips, is topless out of the blue When I squint them light droplets, are visions of you

I've been wondering how you're living, wanna visit with you Grinning and winning, only thing missing is you Your face glistens in the neck of the moon Got me daydreaming the night through, I'm visioning you

Fools who seek loot know I'm looking for you Thieves reach for jewels, but I'm looking for you To every corner of the Earth I'll move That connects under the planets, I'ma check them too

I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you)

Over dunes and high sands to the land's interior We drifted down the Niger River to Nigeria I met a priest from the dark star Sirius Who knew most mysterious things from past periods

Even he couldn't tell me which direction to move Saying love is beyond fortune and the portions of fools And the man's worth is equal to the thing he pursues So, for me, the best treasure will be looking for you

Cross the high deserts looking for you Thieves who seek treasure know I'm looking for you Your face glistens in the neck of the moon Got me daydreaming the night through, picturing you

Wondering how you're living, wanna visit with you I've been grinning and winning, only thing missing is you To every corner of the Earth I'll move That connects under the planets I'ma check them too

I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you)

I confess I'm deep in this endeavor Just to get to never stop 'til the two of we together I was blessed to meet some brothers and some feathers with connections Who helped me with some feather wings, who had some big agendas

Now I'm sitting in this caravan headed out to Mecca Looking for you everywhere, nothing will be better than To find you when we get there, waiting for me like a treasure With the worth it never could be matched or even measured

Caravans to Mecca, looking for you Over burned sands and deserts, looking for you Your face glistens in the neck of the moon Got me daydreaming the night through, picturing you

Caravans to Mecca, looking for you Over burned sands and deserts, I'm looking for you To every corner of the Earth I'll move That connects under the planets I'ma check them too

I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you) I'm looking for you (looking for you)

Caravans to Mecca

[spunchthemusicgoblin]

Music Review #2 - Mdou Moctar

Based: Agadez, Niger

Genres: Psychedelic rock, desert blues (assouf)

Favorite songs: Chrismiten, Afrique Victime, Ibitlan

Vibe: Feels like I’ve been transported to a universe where instead of hate and violence there is only the most chill ethereal sounding music imaginable

Found these guys last year I think? I don’t remember where, but now he’s a permanent feature in my playlists. Moctar has such a soothing melodic voice that just fits perfectly with the almost otherworldly sounding guitar. The drums have a great sound as well, and the rhythm is pretty unique.

Great music for when you need to lay on the dirt and feel the sun

[tuaregshop]

Product

AGE: 1880/1940 MATÉRIEL: laiton and silver TAILLE: 6.5 cm sur 2.7 cm POIDS: 92 grammes The touareg family of Niger has been making jewelry for more than 25 generations. They are famous for their high quality hand crafted jewelry – using 99.99% pure fine silver, ebony and semi precious stones. The traditionally nomadic Tuareg are indigenous to the Sahara desert. They are often called “the Blue…

[earthstory]

Ténéré Desert Lifeless sand dunes where veiled ‘Blue Men’ trade in salt lie at the very heart of the Sahara Desert. Land so devoid of life that it has been called the ‘desert within the desert’ lies just about as far from the sea as is possible in the Sahara. In the Ténér�� Desert of land-locked Niger, rolling oceans of sand dunes, some as high as 800ft (244m), flow towards the horizon and lead to still more dunes in a seemingly endless progression. But like the Sahara as a whole, there is more to the Ténéré than just sand. In an area the size of California, there are also gravel-covered plateaus blasted by desert wind, and fantastic rock formations linkened by one traveller to goblins, ogres and demons. On the eastern edge of the Ténéré, the oasis village of Bilma is the starting point for the camel caravans of the Tuareg who trek for 560km (350miles) across the desert carrying salt to trade in the market centre of Agadez. Bilma has given its name to the Grand Erg of Bilma—a vast expanse of sand extending eastwards for 1200km (750miles) from Niger into Chad. The Erg’s southern half consists of seif dunes—enormous parallel sand ridges—as much as 160km (100miles) long and 1km wide. The troughs between the dunes are known as gassis, and are used as routes by the caravan traders. The nomadic Tuareg who roam this hostile environment are known as the ‘Blue Men’, from the covering of their faces—a costume that may have evolved as a protection against a day spent on camel back in the searing Sahara sun and wind—the dye of the cloth which swathes their heads and faces rubs off on their skin, hence their nickname. ~ JM Image Credit: Camel Caravan by George Steinmetz for National Geographic. Sourced from http://bit.ly/1LQDKzm on 30/5/15 More Info: Sahara Salt Caravan: http://bit.ly/1AFpdFu Niger - Across the Tenere with Tuareg Camel Caravan: http://bit.ly/1cr3TI9 Ténéré: http://bit.ly/1eIOJzQ Air and Ténéré Natural Reserves: http://bit.ly/IESFRw

[notesnoires]

Les Filles de Illighahad photographed by François-Xavier Freland

[dustedmagazine]

Mdou Moctar — Ilana (The Creator) (Sahel Sounds)

Ilana: The Creator by Mdou Moctar

Mdou Moctar, prodigiously talented, nakedly ambitious, creatively restless, Saharan guitar phenom, may be best known outside Niger, to the extent he’s known at all, for soundtracking and starring in the first ever Tuareg feature film Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai (Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in it). You don’t take the lead in a Purple Rain homage unless you know you’re good, but at the time the comparison seemed like the sort of cute, provocative overstatement endemic to emergent scenes and their promoters. Contra Akounak, Moctar’s new record, Ilana (The Creator) is where he earns the comparison. Not only is Ilana Moctar’s best record, it’s also one of the best Saharan records to reach Western ears, and an early contender for the most exhilarating rock record of 2019. 

Impressive guitar players out of Niger are a franc a dozen these days, but none of them are playing with as much fire as Moctar does here. If you still have a punk-induced allergy to flashy guitar solos, be warned; there’s not a track on Ilana where Moctar doesn’t take every available opportunity to — no other word for it — shred. Fortunately, Moctar earns the right to play his ass off by recruiting a band whose hungry energy matches and spurs on his own and by, for the first time, writing a whole album of tunes worthy of his chops.  

Saharan guitar music (tishoumaren to the locals), like roots reggae, delta blues, black metal, and other styles developed in relative isolation, can be formulaic and, let’s be honest, repetitive, especially given its predilection for trance. Moctar’s earlier records were a bit light in the hook department and leaned on groove and skill to pick up the slack. Formulaic though they may be, there’s not a boring track on Ilana. Moctar has amped up his songwriting through judicious use of a few trade secrets, like the breakdowns of the title track “Ilana,” which break up the insistent groove without sapping it of power. The best songs, like the swaggering “Asshet Akai” and triumphant “Wiwasharnine,” are all sticky licks, whirlwind, heat and flash, the sort life affirming stuff that makes you think rock and roll might have some fight in it yet.  

Tight songwriting isn’t all that elevates Ilana. Credit also goes to Moctar’s band, a classic guitar/drums/bass set up without a calabash or hand drum in sight and a heavier, more dynamic, rhythm section than is often found on tishoumaren records. The interlude “Inizgam” features pained, bluesy playing by Moctar, but the drums and bass make it funky, make it something you can feel. The band’s sinewy, propulsive energy give conviction and strength to Moctar’s riffs, and keep Ilana from devolving into a shredding showcase.   

Ilana is Moctar’s first studio record with a full band, and though the production emphasizes the sort of gritty guitar tone heard on his early recordings, and avoids the bright overproduction characterizing recent records by his compatriot Bombino, Moctar isn’t above spicing up his tunes with studio trickery. Prudent use of reverb and overdubs, the low drone that adds weight and drama to “Kamane Tarhanin,” and the ethereal slides of the closer “Tumastin,” are a few of the subtle touches that give depth and dimension to Ilana without sacrificing its garage band immediacy.

Another new trick: Ilana is an old-school, perfectly sequenced album, greater than the sum of its parts. Even the ecstatic, over-the-top, seven minute guitar meltdown “Tarhatazed” is earned by the rising, bass-heavy excitement of the interlude, “Takamba,” that precedes it and cathartic release of “Wiwasharnine” that follows. Ilana’s show-like flow is its secret weapon; it surges forward, high on its own momentum, turning excess into virtue. Authenticity fetishists beware: Ilana (The Creator), with its smooth sequencing, higher production values, rhythmic dynamism, and Hendrix worship that (finally) manifests itself more in licks than sonics, is a full-fledged pop product. 

You can hear within seconds that there’s a lot at stake on Ilana. Like Purple Rain, Ilana is the sound of a talent coming into its own, skill becoming craft and wanting the world to hear, but auditory audacity alone isn’t enough to explain its vitality. Moctar wrote these songs to let the world know that “the women of the desert need help. They don’t have water to drink, there’s no medicine in the hospitals”[1] and that “for 48 years France has exploited the uranium in our country, and yet we still don’t have roads, medicines and in many places there is no water or electricity...we are modern slaves”[2].  For non-Tamasheq speakers, the lyrics of Ilana will be subsumed by its utility as a great party record, but Ilana’s thematic gravity is inseparable from its more muscular approach and the pleasure it provides. After all, in this life, things are much harder than in the afterworld, but if de-elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy.  

Purple Rain is one point of comparison, but Ilana, in its hunger to be heard, political urgency, sonic temerity, seriousness of intent and commitment to pleasure, back to basics simplicity and willingness to experiment, is a piece of pure, subversive pop in the tradition of Catch a Fire or The Clash. Ilana (The Creator) fiercely and joyously breaks through the groovy solemnity that has become a Saharan trademark because Mdou Moctar wants your attention. Check him out. Before the night is through, you’ll see his point of view even if he has to scream and shout. 

Isaac Olson

[showerbythesun]

[ashbakche]

Assouf by Toumastine, 2021.