Anewal – The Walking Man

It’s unclear whether guitarist and vocalist Alhousseini Mohamed Anivolla has left Etran Finatawa for a solo career or if this is simply a side project before he returns to the fold. Either way, its appearance is welcome. The three albums Alhousseini made with the group from Niger were intriguing for their marriage of Touareg guitars and Wodabe polyphonic vocals. With the Wodabe contingent of the band absent from this record, we’re left with a straight Touareg guitar record. As such it’s a particularly fine example of the genre, characterised by a deep, reverberating voice, snaking tunes, a bluesy guitar style that owes something to the influence of Ali Farka Touré as well as the now-familiar Tinariwen tropes – loping percussion and thick, creamy bass lines. The challenge faced by a Touareg guitar album is how to introduce variety, for they often drop into a deep, desert groove and then don’t deviate from its hypnotic pattern all night long. There are a couple of innovations here, though. ‘Emassli Na Taregh’ features an ancient bow that Tamashek people believe puts them in touch with their ancestors, and finds Alhousseini vocalising in what sounds like spontaneous communication with the spirits. ‘Iblis Odouad’ (The Demons Are Showing Up) is a spooky sounding piece with female vocals. If the rest sounds like a standard Touareg guitar record, then that is no bad thing: there aren’t many finer sounds in world music.