WOMAD

Tartit Ensemble

From Mali

Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2002:The Touaregs, or Kel Tamashek, as they prefer to be known, were undisputed lords of the southern Sahara desert for centuries until colonialism and then African nationalism broke their dominance and undermined their ancient nomadic way of life. When the Touaregs of north-eastern Mali and Niger rebelled in the early 1990s, thousands had to flee the country to escape the violence. In a refugee camp in Burkina Faso, a group of women came together regularly to sing, just as they had done back in their home territory near the ancient city of Timbuktu. They weren’t professionals, or career musicians. They were just sisters and cousins who played music in times of suffering and stress to ease their communal grief and tension. A Belgian aid worker heard them and suggested they form a group to perform at a festival of women’s voices in Liège. Fadimata Walett Oumar, aka Disco, took it on herself to organise everything and with the help of her griots, Amanou Issa and Aboubacrine Ag Mohammed, she found the singers she wanted and they travelled to Belgium where they were joined by Mama Walett Amoumine, an exiled Touareg women who had married and settled in Europe. The concert was a huge success, more followed and soon Tartit, which means ‘united’, became a regular touring entity. They recorded a wonderful album called ‘Ichichila’ for the German label, Network Medien, which is one of the best recordings of traditional Touareg music you’re ever likely to hear. The women play the traditional fiddle or imzad and drum or tindé which, when mingled with their chants and handclaps, delivers a bone-dry haunting music of immense hypnotic power. In this group the male musicians take a back seat, playing the flute or teherdent and occasional ngoni lute and electric guitar. This is the desert blues… pure, simple and irresistibly defiant.Short biography 2002:Family group of nomadic Tuaregs whose folkloric music reflects everyday life in the desert of north west Africa. The women lead with a call and response style of singing and the beat of the tindé drums; male accompanists play the terhardent and imzad, precursors of the guitar and violin. Hypnotic and compelling.