Tinariwen

Tinariwen are poet-guitarists and soul rebels from the Southern Sahara desert. Their music expresses the aspirations of their people, the Kel Tamashek or 'Touareg' of the southern Sahara desert. The guitar is their weapon. Simplicity is Freedom. In 1980, Ibrahim, Abdallah, Hassan, 'Japonais' and Kheddou were supposed to play at weddings, baptisms or simple youth gatherings, but eventually found themselves spending several years in the same military training camp in Libya before the Touareg rebellion, which broke out simultaneously in Mali and Niger and sent them to the battlefield in the southern Sahara. Meanwhile, their songs were recorded on cassettes spread far and wide. The latter contributed to conveying the message of a rebel movement aimed at promoting the rights of the suffering nomads under the arbitrary policies of repressive and despotic central governments.  In short: Tinariwen has become the spokesperson for an entire generation. The group has toured the world as headliner at various major festivals including the Eurockéennes de Belfort in France, Glastonbury in the United Kingdom and Coachella in the United States.