Songs For Desert Refugees

The conflict in the southern Sahara between Malian government forces and the Touareg-led NMLA revolutionary army is reaching crisis point. An estimated 220,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and lands and are currently in camps on the borders of Algeria, Mauritania and Niger. Proceeds from this compilation album will help fund two NGOs working with the refugees.

The dozen tracks here recall the sound of what the Malian desert should be – not echoing with gunfire but ‘joyful, beautiful, proud, poetic and peaceful,’ in the words of Andy Morgan’s liner notes.

In a humanitarian crisis, politics should be put aside – although the music here is all made by Touareg musicians, many of whom support the NMLA’s dream of autonomy and self-rule, if not its military tactics. One wonders what music, if any, is soundtracking the manoeuvres of the Malian government forces. That aside, what we end up with is a superb sampler of the finest sounds from the Touareg cultural renaissance, all but four of the tracks unavailable elsewhere on CD. The godfathers of Touareg groove, Tinariwen, lead off with a characteristically hypnotic call-and-response piece that sounds like an outtake from 2007’s Aman Iman. The other ‘T’ bands are all here too – Tamikrest, Terakaft, Toumast, Tartit and a new young outfit called Tadalat. Lesser-known delights include an evocative live track by the Algerian Nabil Baly Othmani, recorded deep in the desert and rich in campfire atmospherics. There’s a wonderfully vivid cover painting by Touareg artist Ahmed Abdoulaye Boudane too. Let’s pray music can play its part in restoring peace.