Some people have commented that Tinariwen have always been a country band, albeit a North African take on that most North American of genres. That idea is magnified on new album Amatssou, which finds the Tuareg bands trademark snaking guitar lines and hypnotic rhythms blending seamlessly with pedal steel, piano and strings from guest musicians including Daniel Lanois, the embellished arrangements lending the songs an epic, universal application.
Full of poetic allegory, the lyrics call for unity and freedom. There are songs of struggle and resistance with oblique references to the recent desperate political upheavals in Mali and the increasing power of the Salafists. “Dear brothers all rest, all leisure will always be far from reach unless your homeland is liberated and all the elders can live there in dignity,” Ibrahim Ag Alhabib sings on Arajghiyine.The albums title Amatssou is Tamashek for Beyond The Fear and it fits - Tinariwen have always been characterised by their fearlessness - and as Bob Dylan once said, the power of rock n roll is that it makes us “oblivious to the fear” as the music gives us the strength and resilience to confront adversity.
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