100% Sahara Guitar
Sahel Sounds (41 mins)
Etran de l’Aïr’s job is to make people move, playing at the weddings of the working class Tuareg folk of Agadez, Niger. And they know what they’re doing, because they’ve been doing it for almost 30 years. Now on their third album, they’ve moved their magic to the recording studio for the first time. Their first two albums were made in their Saharan family compound; this one was born in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles. But their sound is unmistakable – the shrill, scratchy and distorted guitars that echo with the traditional strains of tehardent lutes; the piercing, gunshot snares that keep the groove raucous; the circling, spiralling, twirling, never-ending pentatonic melodies; the Tamashek lyrics of love, courage and strength in community: this is Tuareg party rock through-and-through, evolved with as many guitar overdubs as they could fit in to weave a rich tapestry. This one may have been made in the US, but it’s exactly 100% Saharan.