Tinariwen

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Tinariwen

Tinariwen (Tamashek for "empty places") is a musical band formed in 1982 in Moammar al-Qadhafi's camps of Tuareg rebels. They play in the Tishoumaren ("music of the unemployed") style, and sing mostly in the French and Tamashek languages. Their songs mostly concerning independence for their people from the government of Mali. They are said to be the first Tuareg band to use electric guitars.

Having recorded many albums available on cassette over their eighteen years, the group recorded their first album for the CD format in December of 2000; the album was known as The Radio Tisdas Sessions and was their first recording available outside of Africa.

The Western world first took great notice of Tinariwen due to their performance at Le Festival au Désert, a musical festival held in Tin-Essako, Mali, a remote region of the Sahara Desert, in January of 2001.

The band released a second album, Amassakoul ("Traveller") in 2004, and played concerts in Europe (where they performed one of the highlights of the 2004 Womad Reading ) and the United States to support the album.

In 2005, they performed at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, New York and Cambridge Folk Festival in England. They also performed as part of the 2005 UK African Soul Rebel Tour and later that same year as part of an impressive line-up at "LIVE 8: Africa Calling" held at the Eden Project, Cornwall.

In 2006, Tinariwen played at the Festival International in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Tinariwen's new album entitled "Aman Iman", meaning "Water is Life", was released in February 2007. A 52 minute documentary called "Teshumara, or the guitars of the revolution" has also recently played in movie theaters in Europe. It tells the history of the Tuareg rebellion and the role played by Tinariwen in this struggle for freedom. Combined with their second CD "Amassakoul", it's been released as the CD/DVD combo "The Soul Rebel Of African Desert". They were featured guests on BBC World's the Beat in March 2007.