Tinariwen - Amidiwan

It has been a fantastic weekend for music. I saw possibly the best concert I have ever seen last night. When I get a chance I will put up a post about that. In the meantime check this out. This group (not the one from last night), is from Mali, and was formed in the Libyan training camps for Tuareg rebels (fighting for independence from Mali), in the 80's. It would be pretty hard for any of the whiny emo bands currently in vogue to top a back story like that. These guys have real reason the be pissed off, and my understanding is that the music is largely about their fight for freedom, and the hardships their people have suffered. This might give the impression that this is serious stuff, but the music is joyous and incredibly hypnotic. If you give it a chance, it gets under your skin. I found out about Tinariwen from a Slate article last week, so I went on iTunes and bought their latest album Aman Iman. It's well worth checking out. For those of you in Ireland, they are supporting the Rolling Stones at Slane this summer.