Tuareg musicians turn music into resistance amid Mali conflict, showcasing cultural resilience in desert settings.
Grammy-winning Tuareg band Tinariwen are refugees—driven from Mali in 2024 by violence involving Wagner mercenaries and the Malian military. Their tenth studio album, Hoggar, documents the ongoing crisis with characteristic desert blues beauty, featuring direct condemnations of Wagner alongside meditations on tribal division and hopes for a peaceful homeland. Recorded at Aboogi studio in Algeria’s Tamanrasset—built by younger Tuareg band Imarhan—the album became a moving intergenerational gathering of Tuareg musicians, including female vocalists rarely heard in recent recordings. As these iconic musicians age, their mission remains clear: singing to ensure their culture survives even when their homelands are under fire.
The Guardian