f40 Rock The Oasis
Just when you thought you were all desert bluesed out, along came Tamikrest to breathe fresh life into the genre. Liam Thompson talks to the new Touareg model.
F
or desert rockers Tamikrest, 2013 was a big year. Not only has tur- moil continued to grip the band’s home country of Mali but their latest release, Chatma, went well and truly global, catapulting Tamikrest to previously unheard of levels of recognition. The album’s flagship song, Chatma, with its driving rhythm and loop- ing melody became an anthem of Britain’s hottest summer in years, saw the band called into the BBC Radio 6 studios and embark on a UK tour.
I caught up with their enigmatic lead- er Ousmane Ag Mossa as Tamikrest pre- pared for a major London show and asked what’s the story behind the new record?
“Behind every picture there’s a story,” he tells me, “and my story comes from 23
years ago, 1990. I was five years old and had to leave my village and take refuge in the Oued Mountains. The Malian army had occupied our village and we, along with around ten other families, had fled. The army bombarded us. At the time I didn’t understand why it was dangerous, I was only a child. I don’t have any memory before that event and don’t remember much about taking refuge in the moun- tains. For the rest of my life, however, I will remember the sound of the bombs and how afraid the women were, as well as the other children.”
Unfortunately, such tales of hardship and conflict are all too common for the Touareg, and the wider population of Mali. When Touareg separatists rose against the Malian government in 2012, it was just the latest flare-up in a seemingly
endless struggle for independence. Added to the mix on this occasion was a parallel Islamist insurgency which joined the fight for independence but then imposed a regime of strict Sharia law.
“Our bass player Cheikh,” Ousmane tells me “he has a similar story from Tinza- ouatene, an oasis outpost deep in the desert. It was the time of the Ibrahim Bahanga revolution. [Bahanga led a for- mer Touareg insurgency back in 2006 and continued to lead the rebels until his death in a car accident – though some doubt the accident part – in 2011.] The Malian army put all the population out of the village and occupied their houses. I was in the region myself at that time. Fam- ilies were forced to live in their gardens with nothing, it was a terrible time.”
Photo: Judith Burrows
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