TINARIWEN share new single & video ‘Kek Alghalm’

Tinariwen share new single and video 
 

'Kek Alghalm' watch and share here
 

Taken from forthcoming album Amatssou
 

Released May 19^th on Wedge

 

US & European tour begins May 27 - Tickets here

 

 

 

(Photo Credit: Marie Planeille) 

 

“More than 40 years into their collective career, Tinariwen still sound as electric as when they first began.” The FADER

 

Tinariwen—the legendary GRAMMY-winning Tuareg collective—present their new single, “Kek Alghalm,” from their forthcoming album, Amatssou, out May 19th on Wedge. Following lead single “Tenere Den,” an “understated tribute to the desert and to the Tuareg revolution in the highlands of Mali”, “Kek Alghalm” opens Amatssou as a call to the Tuareg tribes to unite against present threats, its lyrics calling out complicity in silence: “So where are the Touareg? // And why do they remain silent // In the face of so much disrespect // Perpetrated shamelessly with uncovered face.” Featuring Nashville’s Wes Corbett on banjo, “Kek Alghalm” is a longtime live favourite amongst Tinariwen fans and it’s presented here in its recorded form for the first time. 

 

Tinariwen, composed of founding members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Touhami Ag Alhassane and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, plus bassist Eyadou Ag Leche, percussionist Said Ag Ayad and guitarist Elaga Ag Hamid, single-handedly invented a guitar style that has captured the world’s imagination. They call it ishumar or assouf (“nostalgia” in Tamashek) but the rest of the world has come to know it as the Tuareg or desert blues. It is music that is imbued with sorrow and longing but it’s also music to dance to, to forget our cares. 

 

Throughout Amatssou, the band’s ninth studio album, they set out to explore the shared sensibilities between their trademark desert blues and the vibrant country music of rural America. Recorded in Djanet, an oasis in the desert of southern Algeria located in Tassili N’Ajjer National Park, with additional production by Daniel Lanois (Brian Eno, U2, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Peter Gabriel, Willie Nelson), Amatssou finds Tinariwen’s signature snaking guitar lines and hypnotic grooves seamlessly co-existing alongside banjos, fiddles and pedal steel.

 

For decades, Tinariwen have remained ambassadors for the Tuareg people, a way of life in tune with the natural world, which is under threat as never before.  Amatssou is Tamashek for “Beyond The Fear,” and it fits, as Tinariwen have always been characterized by their fearlessness. Though Tuareg culture is as old as that of ancient Greece or Rome, the songs of Amatssou speak to the current and often tough reality of Tuareg life today. Unsurprisingly, there are impassioned references to Mali’s ongoing political and social turmoil. Full of poetic allegory, the lyrics call for unity and freedom. There are songs of struggle and resistance with oblique references to the recent desperate political upheavals in Mali and the increasing power of the Salafists. Tinariwen’s message has never sounded more urgent and compelling than it does on Amatssou.

 

Beginning May 27th at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, Tinariwen’s US tour will see them bringing their cherished songs to cities including New York, Los Angeles, and more before they head overseas for a run of EU/UK dates. All shows are on-sale now with tickets available here. 

 

 

Tinariwen Tour Dates:
 

Sat. May 27 - Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk Music

Tue. May 30 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom

Wed. May 31 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox

Fri. June 2 - Berkeley, CA @ UC Theater

Sat. June 3 - Los Angeles, CA @ Fonda Theater

Mon. June 5 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall

Tue. June 6 - Boston, MA @ Sinclair

Wed. June 7 - Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre

Sat. June 10 - Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival

Mon. June 12 - Rubigen, CH @ Muhle Hunziken

Wed. June 14 - Florence, IT @Ultravox

Thu. June 15 - Milan, IT @ Triennale Garden 

Fri. June 16 - Turin, IT @ Hiroshima Mon Amour

Sun. June 18 - Dublin, IE @ Body & Soul Festival

Thu. June 22 - Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg

Sat. June 24 - Glastonbury, UK @ Glastonbury Festival

Mon. 26 - Lille, FR @ Splendid

Wed. June 28 - Paris, FR @ Salle Pleyel

Thu. June 29 - Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique

Sat. July 1 - Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival

Sun. July 2 - Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyran

Tue. July 4 - Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller

Fri. July 7 - Bilbao, ES @ BBK Live Festival

Tue. July 11 - Arles, FR @ Les Suds Arles

Thu. July 13 - London, UK @ Somerset House

Sat. July 15 - Bristol, UK @ SWX

Mon. July 17 - Glasgow, UK @ St Lukes

Wed. July 19 - Birmingham, UK @ Institute 2

Sat. July 22 - Cheshire, UK @ Bluedot Festival

Tue. July 25 - Vigo, SP @ Terraceo Festival

Thu. July 27 - Sines, PT @FMM

Sat. July 29 - Luxey, FR @ Musicalarue Festival