Tinariwen: The Radio Tisdas Sessions

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Recorded in a local radio station, sung in the language of the nomadic Tamashek who inhabited the arid lands of the greater Sahara, and played on simple electric guitars and cheap amps, this is compelling music.

Tinariwen are Touaregs - the name given to stateless wanderers who were at the whim of weather and changing political climates - and were educated in Libya's camps where they were taught the language of armed struggle.

They also heard rebel music from the west - John Lennon, the Bobs (Dylan and Marley) - and in the 80s developed their own music of exile and expression.

After a six-year rebellion and battle of attrition in Niger and Mali, they limped home and were re-integrated into society. They recorded these songs when power was on. If even just some of that doesn't make you interested, I give up.

With wiry guitar blues (there are times when you are in the Delta circa 1940) and little else other than handclaps and vocals, this at times seems closer to the White Stripes and the blues on the Fat Possum label (RL Burnside, T Model Ford) than "world-folk" which it undoubtedly looks like on paper. Think Ali Farka Toure with a single, tight-wire string on his guitar.

We have no idea what is being sung about, but it can sound ineffably sad at times, at others uplifting and appealing to a revolutionary spirit.

But it is plugged-in campfire blues from the caravanserai, and as the narrow-range guitar tone winds and unravels around the melodies you will be captivated.

Guitar blues from Timbuktu. Now, who could have guessed?


Label: Wayward