Tamikrest

“A desert hosts us, a language unites us, a culture binds us.” Based in Mali, Tamikrest is made up of members from Mali, Niger, Algeria and France, but is rooted in the culture of the semi-nomadic Tuareg people of the southern Sahara desert. First formed in 2006 with two old homemade guitars, the band blends traditional Saharan African music with blues, rock and Western pop influences combining into a captivating stew of jagged electric guitar and rolling desert grooves, reminiscent of their musical mentors Tinariwen. They have released six albums including a live record, with songs that express universal themes of homesickness and loss, the travails of Tuareg women and clarion calls for the Tuareg people to unite and take control of their own future. Their leader and founding member, Ousmane ag Mossa, is a passionate advocate for Tuareg independence who once contemplated becoming a lawyer, but instead uses a microphone and his guitar as his weapons of choice.