100% Sahara Guitar

Etran de l’Aïr’s job is to make people move, playing at the weddings of the working-class Touareg of Agadez, Niger. And they know what they’re doing because they’ve been doing it for almost 30 years. Now, on their third album, they’ve moved their magic to the recording studio for the first time. Their first two albums were made in their Saharan family compound; this one was born in Oregon and Los Angeles. But their sound is unmistakable – the shrill, scratchy and distorted guitars that bring to mind the traditional strains of tehardent lutes; the piercing, gunshot snares that keep the groove raucous; the circling, spiralling, twirling, never-ending pentatonic melodies; the Tamashek lyrics of love, courage and strength in community: this is Touareg party rock through-and-through, evolved with as many guitar overdubs as they could fit in to weave a rich tapestry. This one may have been made in the US, but it’s 100% Saharan.