Tidet
Bloc C (39 mins)
If you're anything like me, you only need three words to make you want to listen to this album: Libyan Tuareg trap. Ooof, now there's promising. And Amaka Jaji delivers. Tidet grooves right from the start: synths mixing with pentatonic Saharan guitars, drum machines set to maximum lope, Jaji’s raspy, almost-whispered and ever-so-slightly autotuned songs in Tamasheq and Arabic, field recordings of Sufi events around his hometown of Ghat sampled over deep, dark bass… Everything about this album serves to paint a portrait of a Libya-raised, Tunis-based multi-instrumentalist intimately connected to his Tuareg and Sufi roots and profoundly immersed in the popular music of the world, from hip-hop and trap to raï and electronica. In the press release, Jaji says: ‘Tidet is not just an album; it's an act of resistance and a declaration of identity from an indigenous Tuareg artist.” This is modern, outward-facing Tuareg music like you’ve never heard before – and it’s all the better for it.