Tarkat Tajje – Let’s Go

Our education in the music of the nomadic peoples of the Sahara has advanced rapidly in the years since Tinariwen first burst upon our consciousness. There was a time when all of the Touareg or Tamashek guitar bands sounded pretty much the same to Western ears. Today, however, you could stage a festival featuring Tinariwen, Toumast, Tamikrest and Etran Finatawa and, although they share a common tradition, most of us would recognise a rich and diverse panoply of different styles and approaches. Etran Finatawa have the added distinction that, although half of the group are Touareg, the other half are Wodaabe. From Niger, the Wodaabe have their own musical tradition involving polyphonic singing and a percussive syncopation that beats to a different drum, creating a hypnotic groove quite distinct from the more loping Touareg rhythms.

The group's third album, recorded in a studio stopover during their 2009 European tour, represents a significant advance on their last, Desert Crossroads. It would be wrong to describe Tarkat Tajje as slicker; rather they are simply now more at home in a recording environment and consequently sound more assured and confident. The serpentine lead guitar lines are full of familiar desert blues tropes, but there are subtle differences. ‘Gourma’ for example, starts out like it could fit readily on a Tinariwen record. Then the track explodes into a thrilling, spacey mesh of lead lines and rhythmic chords unlike anything we've heard from other ‘desert blues' bands before. The lyric translations also suggest that their travels have given their songwriting a wider focus. Several songs such as ‘Diam Walla’ (No Water) and ‘Gourma’ continue to describe the hardships of nomadic desert life. But others such as ‘Kalamoujar’ (Brotherhood) and ‘Ummee Ndaaren’ (Stand Up and Go For The Right Thing) contain a far more universal message.