Leaders of the 'New Wave of Tuareg' Algerian band Imarhan have just released their second album Temet. It's a sweeping, glorious statement, combing the best traditions of the music, laid down in recent years by the likes of Tinariwen and Tamikrest with plenty of their own fire and joy.
In some ways Imarhan are fuelled by the same kind of instincts as British blues bands of the late sixties and early seventies, and reinvigorate the tired aspects of that sound with their own cultural vigour. Temet is a notable album, with a shifting set of moods and tones, pushing forward a loose movement of nomadic groups onward and upward. Listening to it on headphones at work at my desk this week, I couldn't sit still, rocking backwards and forwards in my seat to its inescapable rhythms and energy.
No comments:
Post a Comment