It’s difficult to look past the robes, but maybe you shouldn’t. Tinariwen, the long-running Tuareg desert-rock group who have in recent years worked with TV on the Radio‘s Tunde Adebimpe and Wilco‘s Nels Cline, and who were a profound influence on Kurt Vile‘s b’lieve i’m goin down…, seem almost to drift across the stage as they play, their unfurling guitar lines mirrored in their soft but precise physical movements. It’s hypnotic, the Tinariwen live experience, with those droning guitar and vocal lines and the insistent thump of hand-drums conspiring to create a strangely tactile headspace.
And while the robes, the dancing, and the becalmed stoicism that occasionally builds to joy are all visual delights, the music that Tinariwen creates in a live setting remains transportive. Now, with the release of Live In Paris, Oukis N’Asuf’, you can journey with them. The concert recording was taped at Bouffes du Nord in the Tenth Arrondissement last November at the tail end of the tour for their most recent record, Emmaar. “Tinde Final,” which you can hear below, features Tamashek singer Lalla Badi, the sevent-five-year-old “queen of tinde.”
Live In Paris, Oukis N’Asuf’ track list
1. Tinde (Tinariwen Feat. Lalla Badi)
2. Tamiditin
3. Koudedazamin
4. Imidiwan Ahi Sigidam
5. Tamatant Tiley
6. Tinde (Lalla Badi)
7. Azawad
8. Chaghaybou
9. Toumast Tincha
10. Tiwayyen
11. Emin Assosam
12. Tinde Final (Tinariwen Feat. Lalla Badi)
Live In Paris, Oukis N’Asuf’ is out November 20 on Wedge.
