When Tinariwen arrived at the Bouffes du Nord venue in Paris last December on the final date of their Emmaar album tour, they were a band who'd seen and experienced much in their long career.
Between the Tuareg group’s formative years in Algeria and Libya, their emotional return to northern Mali and the subsequent 2012 Ansar Dine uprising in their native land which targeted musicians like them, Tinariwen’s career has been full of drama.
The emotional power of their music was amplified here by the presence of veteran Tuareg singer and activist Lalla Badi, who joined them for some slow, shimmering tinde tracks.
We largely associate Tinariwen with evocative, hazy, powerful desert blues and tracks like Azwad, and Chaghaybou are propelled to new heights by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib's fiery guitar.
