17. Tinariwen - Aman Iman: Water Is Life (2007)
People say that this sounds like the blues. That's true, the blues began in Africa though. It's interesting how music can project itself onto a continent and then back again. From Africa to North America and vice versa. Tinariwen use electric guitars, which a Westerner wouldn't expect from a band from Mali, and one chord often suffices in their music and it's this that reels the listener in. 'Aman Iman' sounds silmultanously joyous and heartbreaking, the affection here is very intense. Not understanding the language and discussions needn't matter either. The range and emotion in the music carries the conviction. The band have been active from 1979 and that's incredible. They met in a refugee camp and courtesy of Wikipedia "they sing about the suffering and exile of their people, the semi-nomadic Kel Tamashek of the southern Sahara, and about their beauty of the desert home". They have a story to tell and here it is to cherish.
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