WOMAD

Tinariwen & Lo'Jo

From France, Mali

A hugely exciting collaboration between two groups who have both proved themselves to be smash hits with the WOMAD audience. One not to be missed!2001 BiographyThe Touaregs are the nomadic Berber tribes of the Sahara desert and Tinariwen are the most radical and renowned Touareg group in the southern Sahara. Throughout the 70s and 80s a bitter war for Touareg independence coupled with periodic severe droughts forced many Touaregs to flee from the northern desert regions of Mali and Niger and take refuge in neighbouring countries. Young Touareg men were lured by Ghadaffi into training camps in southern Lybia where they learnt about revolution and radical Arab nationalism. They also heard music by the likes of Bob Marley, John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Moroccan roots rockers Nass El Ghiwane for the first time. A new style of Touareg music emerged from this experience which combined traditional forms with a modern rebellious and radical rock sensibility. This style became known simply as ‘guitar’, because the electric guitar was omnipresent and emblematic. Tinariwen was formed in those camps and all of its members have tasted armed struggle in one from or another. The music they play is close to the African blues of Ali Farka Toure, only edgier, meaner and deeper. Individual members of the group like Ibrahim, Mohammed ‘Le Japonnais’, so called because he has the features of a Shogun warrior, or Kheddou, who saved a whole PA system from the clutches of armed bandits at a festival in northern Mali last January, are accomplished and famous poets, as well as superb intuitive musicians. Roots rock rebels for real!! Biography by Andy Morgan, May 2001Lo’Jo (France)www.lojo.org2001 biographyLo’Jo is one of the most unusual bands ever to emerge from France. The band’s music embraces North African song, African flavours and percussion, classic French chanson, dub, rock and Romany music. Leader Denis Péan’s songs are written in French, English, Spanish and often uses words that just sound right, even if they don’t really exist! The seven-piece band also includes two sisters of Berber origin, Nadia and Yamina Nid el Mourid, whose astonishing close harmony is one of Lo’Jo’s most distinctive features. With a Caribbean bassist and French drummer, the line-up is truly multicultural; and Lo’Jo, who are based in the western city of Angers in the Loire valley, are indefinably attuned to how each of their many influences fit into the overall weave of their compelling music. The band’s most recent CD releases have been hailed far and wide, including last year’s ‘Bohème de Cristal’ which was produced by the English guitarist Justin Adams.