Amassakoul

This is perhaps one of the ironies of the contemporary global economy - I can bemoan the fact that globalisation means that the high street in Beijing is beginning to look remarkably like the high street in Manhattan or London, yet I can also sit back and appreciate that a Touareg group can maintain their cultural autonomy and make music which I, a Scotsman, can enjoy.

There is something wonderfully sparse and pure about this music. The Touareg are a nomadic people - traditionally, they carry as little as they need ... and if you can pack stories and songs into your head, so much the better. Of course, Tinariwen have picked up influences from near and far - culture is never static. Their sound will go on to influence others around the globe. But what comes across forcibly in their music is pride.

"Amassakoul" is their second album, more organised and orchestrated than their "Radio Tisdas Sessions". Culture does not stand still, and young musicians who had been forced into camps because of the border wars erupting in their traditional lands have transformed the electric guitar into a 'traditional' Touareg instrument. It remains 'traditional' in the sense that it is there to support and enhance the human voice, to underpin the telling of a story or narration of an emotion. But at times it is given an opportunity to make its own statements.

The rhythms are largely sustained by the human voice, the chorus echoing the refrain of the lead singer. They sound more restrained than Western rhythms - the beat is not so intrusive, though it remains hypnotic. Apparently, sand dunes sing - as they shift in the wind they can emit a moan or a drumming rhythm. The Tinariwen sound is humanistic, not mechanically syncopated. These are rhythms which are timeless yet which are self-evidently of a new century.

The CD comes with a net little booklet (in English and French) which translates the words and gives you a better insight into the songs. Tinariwen talk about the loneliness and beauty of the desert, of the reassurance of being free to roam and to know your spirit cannot be contained or constrained. They sing of love and pain, they sing and play with a passion which is universally recognisable.

Recent winners of a BBC world music competition, this is an outstanding piece of musicianship which will give your ears a well earned rest from much of the packaged and trivial music foisted upon us in the West.

You know what they say about art being born out of suffering - well, here you are!

From the southern reaches of the Sahara Desert (in Mali), from among the nomadic Tuareg tribes, a band of poets and minstrels have put down their guns and picked up electric guitars. And have poured the anguish and suffering of their people into their poetry and music. The result is Tinariwen.

A few years ago, I saw Tinariwen playing on Jules Holland's show and was dumbstruck! I'm afraid all the other guests on the show were instantly erased from my mind as these wonderful sounds and rythms swept into my ears. As soon as I possibly could, I went to my local music shop to order anything I could find by the group. And when Amassakoul arrived a week later, I was entranced (and continue to be so).

For anyone who loves guitar music and funky rythms, Tinariwen pushes all the right buttons. And if you find that you like art that you know has been born out of great hardship (such as the blues, which sprang from grinding rural poverty and social deprivation, or the poetry from the blood and mud of the trenches), then you will find that this music has an integrity born out of drought and war and displacement.

Speaking personally, I have always loved raw, stark, unadulterated guitar music (which is why I love the blues - esp from the early exponents of the genre, like Leadbelly and Robert Johnson), and therefore really appreciate the music of this group. Whether its my imagination or not, this music definitely seems to communicate something of the mystery and beauty of the desert. And the combination of male and female voices adds to the sense of a whole people, dispossessed and driven from their homes. As already stated, the rythms are marvellous, with much of the rythm section being comprised of hand-clapping (which is a revelation!).

There is also a complete absence of the ego, self-indulgence and commercialism prevalent in so much Western culture (supergroups, boy-bands, supermodels, R&B divas, tabloid celebrities, pontificating elder rock stars etc etc). A blessed relief.

Really a wonderful CD that gets played often and has favourably impressed numerous friends and acquaintances. The sleeve notes provide translations of the poetry (so much more than mere lyrics), and the fantastic photos reveal a wild-and-beautiful-looking desert people from an utterly different world to the one in which I live (materially wealthy and spiritually impoverished).

Finally, if what I've already written has not provided sufficient incentive to buy this album, then perhaps you might be swayed by the understanding that the royalties will be going to people who sorely need the money and who may have no other means of acquiring hard currency. Much better than going to some faceless corporation or pampered 'popstar'!

The inlay card says these Malinese travelling musicians put down theirtraditional Toureg instruments and picked up the electric guitar in the80s and began a revolution. But producing an album like this in 2003 hasnot meant they have lost any of their soul. This album is for any fan ofupbeat world music and is impossible to put down. If you're into NorthAfrican music of any sort, from the Algerian master Abdelli or southernSpanish big guns Radio Tarifa, you need to get into Tinariwen. From thevery beginning of this album you realise these guys know their stuff andlove the electric guitar. It might sound weird on paper (nomadic Africansinging with funky guitars) but this merge has an obvious quality andinterest right from the start of the CD. The album is well balanced withsoulful explosions that you would imagine is the best possible music tocruise around the Sahara with in a jeep or something, and some delicateslower numbers that reach into the hearts of these fascinating andintelligent musicians. Buy this CD and your friends will say what is thisgreat music, I've heard nothing like it before?