Mdou Moctar plays a style of desert blues called “ishumar,” which is technically a new genre. Rock ‘n’ roll audiences have begun to embrace the music of Moctar and his colleagues because there’s ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

For two millenniums, the nomadic Tuareg people have wandered the Sahara of North Africa. Tinariwen, a Tuareg blues rock collective, chronicles life in the desert and the plight of those displaced by ...

Imagine a caravan of camels moving across an ocean of sand. There are no roads, no signposts, and no GPS—just endless dunes stretching to the horizon. Yet the travelers know exactly where they are ...

Besides the fact that Tinariwen—the name means “desert”–has become so familiar both here and in Europe, besides the fact that they’ve been touring since 2001, that Robert Plant loves them, and that ...

The Nigerien guitarist and band sizzle on a deeply satisfying album that pays unusual homage to his early career It seems fitting that the first album on Matador (and his sixth in total) from the ...

The passion and range of the Saharan Tuareg band’s music was somewhat lost in translation until their gig’s triumphant finale It wasn’t until the encore that Ousmane Ag Mossa invited a translator on ...

The music of Mali's Tuareg people is music of resistance. Master traders of the Sahara desert for millenia, they've never enjoyed significant political power, and their musical culture reflects that ...

With their flowing robes and turbans, Tinariwen cut an imposing dash. Their name means “people of the desert” and they look as if they have just stepped out of a Saharan sandstorm. Tinariwen are ...