Ishumar 2: New Tuareg Guitars

The second post-Tinariwen compilation of Touareg bands from Mali, Niger and Algeria promises to point out ‘new directions’ in the nomadic guitar blues of West Africa’s landlocked desert region. From Timbuktu to Agadez, the sands ‘swarm with new groups and melodies’, the anthropologist Marta Amico tells us in the excellent accompanying booklet, which contains informative profiles of the dozen acts featured on Ishumar 2. Several of those bands are now based in Europe, where they are absorbing new and fresh influences. Yet if you were told this album was a new Tinariwen release, you would hear little to make you disbelieve the claim: there’s less stylistic variation on display here from the Tinariwen model than between, say, the Beatles and their multitude of copyists, from the Monkees to Oasis.

That’s not to deny that just about all of the music on this compilation sounds pretty fine. And if the shadow of Tinariwen looms large over every track, there are at least a few hints that their inheritors may be able to grow Touareg guitar music in fresh directions. Witness the (moderate) rap influence on the vocal on ‘Alghafiat’ by Amanar (from Tinariwen’s home town of Kidal), the flute and slide guitar on ‘Imidiwane’ by the Brussels-based Kel Assouf and the quirky pop sensibility of ‘Edjmayegh S’Emeli’ by Nabil Baly Othmani (which sounds like an Algerian take on Super Furry Animals). Among the other new names, the Paris-based Tiwitine sound like a cross between Tinariwen and Ali Farka Toure and there’s a rocking, reggae touch to ‘Aliilagh Iridjwane’ by Tamkilwate.