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“The inspiration for Chatma came from these accumulated experiences. We toured Europe in 2012 and, when the tour was finished, I realised I didn’t want to go home. So I went to Tinzaouatene. I saw the refugees unable to cross the border, I saw the trouble they were facing, the suffering of the women, children and elderly.”
“We were in the studio at the time and when you see your brothers facing such difficulties it touches you and can’t help but have an influence on your work. This is why we dedicated the record to our sisters, the women of the world. Women have a central role in Tamashek society going all the way back to ancient times when they were queens of the desert. For the Tameshek, women are the guardians of our tradition and culture. When trouble comes, the women suffer greatly but they still stay standing and keep their honour. Women and children are always the first victims of these conflicts, not only in Mali but all over the world.”
While in places a joyful, uplifting
record, Chatma also fizzles with the raw musical energy that seems to so naturally infuse the music of the Tuareg. It’s a music born of turmoil from a country which remains as it ever was a hotbed of – at one and the same time – musical dynamism and political turmoil.
As with many of the country’s musi- cians, these two parallel impulses run as deep throughout Tamikrest’s own person- al histories as they do through that of the country. As Ousmane explains when detail- ing their genesis:
“Aghaly, our djembe player, Cheikh, our bass player and Ibrahim, our calabash and drum player and I were all students in a school run by a French NGO, for the nomads’ community. We met there. At that time we liked to argue, like lawyers or diplomats, in defence of Tamashek rights against the Malian government and the international companies who exploit our land without any respect for the environ- ment or population.”
“But it wasn’t possible for us to con- tinue our studies because of the discrimi- nation we met in Mali’s main public educa- tion system. So then we started meeting in the afternoon at a youth club called Mai- son du Luxembourg in Kidal. We’d spend time with friends and play music, just like most young boys. Whereas most people stopped this, however, we never did. So, slowly, the band took form.”
Uniquely for one of the major desert
blues bands, Tamikrest also bring with them some outside influences in the shape, not just of musical nods to favoured Western musicians, but also of French band member Paul Salvagnac, who recently joined on guitar. Perhaps this international outlook and make up explains something about Tamikrest’s recent ascent to global recognition.
Working with Salvagnac was not entirely without challenge however, Ous- mane explains. “Recording Chatma was a difficult process. Where we live in Algeria we have no rehearsal space and with Paul living in France we had to work with each other via the internet. We would send him what we’d recorded, and he’d send back his arrangements. It was a time-consuming process. The work we’d normally do in one afternoon was taking one or two weeks to do. In the end we finished the record while touring Europe, in hotel rooms between the shows.”
B
ut despite of intercontinental rehearsals and factional war- fare, Chatma was finally realised in the snow-kissed township of Kladno, on the
outskirts of Prague. “Finally, last March,” Ousmane tells me, “we made it to the Sono Studio in Prague, an amazing ana- logic place.”
The studio was where David Bowie famously recorded Outside and is renowned for being a place where records are cut to New York and London stan- dards, but at Czech prices. “The experience was a surreal one,” says Ousmane. “There was snow everywhere so it felt very differ- ent to the desert. Plus we were joined by a crazy sound engineer, Milan Cimfe. We also had our producer Chris Eckman with us, an old friend and artist who recorded our first two records. So, we were working in full confidence. The songs are deep and the subjects painful, but at the same time the sessions were really great moments.”
How did the experience of recording in Europe and with European producers and band members influence the record?
“As an artist,” says Ousmane, “I think that each day and each new sound you hear is a new experience and you can either let it influence you or not. We were already well versed in many Western artists before we came to Europe. We all grew up listening to musicians like Dire Straits, Bob Marley and Pink Floyd. Gener- ally, most of my favourite artists are those from the ’70s and the ’80s but, unfortu- nately, I can't cross them on stage now!”
“Travelling in Europe is always refreshing however. Music can be difficult in Mali now. We are currently living in Tamanrasset, in Algeria. It's a city I’ve known since my childhood so it’s not exactly exile but it’s not my home village. Tinzaouatene, which is where I grew up in Mali, is now a ghost village and Kidal is now a place for the kalashnikov, not for the guitar. Between the Malian army, the French army, the Nigerian army… is it a place to live and to play music?”
There is no easy answer to this but
there’s no doubting that Mali’s greatest export to the world, its rich and vivid musi- cal spirit, has taken a hit since the rebellion
of 2012. Many of those with the means to flee the north of the country, including countless musicians, did so. Likewise, at home, the Islamist usurpers closed down the music venues, including the famous Maison du Luxembourg where Tamikrest began their journey, and replaced Kidal’s Tamashek radio station with religious pro- gramming, ideologically attuned to the Islamist occupiers.
Things have been changing since French forces moved in to help the Malian government regain control. Nevertheless the future of the country’s Festival au Desert remains uncertain. A recent press release on the festival website announced that, despite the French intervention and ongoing efforts by the Malian government to retain control of Mali’s provinces, the 2014 festival, like the one before it, has been cancelled for security reasons.
One recent story from Kidal, related by Andy Morgan in his book on the strug- gle to keep music alive in Mali, illustrates the point. A group of Touareg women were sitting, chanting to the beat of a tindé, a practice almost as old as the Touareg and a traditional vehicle for oral history and communal expression. On hearing the music Ansar ud-Dine militia- men turned their weapons on the crowd and scattered them, a clear warning against indulging in the ‘devil’s music’. There are countless such stories from Mali’s recent history.
So, where next for the band and where next for Mali?
“To the Touareg the future looks very
difficult, just as the past has been. Nothing has been done that we were hoping for and we still struggle for our human rights and self-determination within our territory. As long as our cause isn’t respected, there’ll be no solution to our problems. In Mali, it’s the same old story.”
“The situation is daunting but we still have hope,” Ousmane explains. “Chatma, our third album, is still fresh in people’s minds and we continue to share its sounds and messages with the public. We are tour- ing Europe again in early 2014 so, for the time being, we are focused on rehearsing.” F
www.tamikrest.net/en/
Photo: Judith Burrows
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