Sign up for our mailing list Real artists creating records on their own terms
Close

Sign up for our mailing list

News

Tinariwen Release 'Live In Paris'
Friday, November 20th, 2015

Tinariwen Release 'Live In Paris'

On Saturday December 13th 2014, in Paris, a city that the band adores, Grammy Award-winning Tuareg group Tinariwen brought the world’s most respected tindé musician Lalla Badi together with an audience for something more, so much more, than a simple straightforward concert. The album which documents that special night, Live From Paris, arrives today.

In light of current events, the band offers the following:

“Today is released our first live album, Oukis N’Asuf, recorded at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord on December 13th, 2014 in Paris. It’s in Paris, at the Bataclan where we played on April 7th, 2007. Our friend Robert Plant joined us on stage, it’s one of our best memories as musicians. We’re all touched by this tragedy because it affects our friends, music, freedom, values that TINARIWEN has defended for almost 30 years…”

Her face chiseled with wrinkles, her eye bright and vivid, at the age of 75, Lalla Badi remains the queen of tindé – a word that denotes both an instrument (a mortar covered by a taut goatskin) played exclusively by women, and a poetic repertoire which is sung at ceremonies and special occasions. She’s also the incarnation of Touareg femininity par excellence, the pillar of that society: free, strong, far removed from the subservience that so often exists elsewhere. Respected.

Originally from Timiaoune in the far south of the Algerian Sahara, now living in Tamanrasset, Lalla Badi became a mentor to the Touareg in the 1970s, thanks both to her mastery of this musical genre and her commitment to the Touareg cause. Back then she took in the ishumars (unemployed vagrants), those Touareg who had set off to Libya in search of a better life. Like them, the future members of Tinariwen also fled repression and the crippling droughts of northern Mali in those dark years, stopping off in Algeria along the way. Lalla Badi took them under her wing, became like a mother to them.

It was during this period that Ibrahim ag Alhabib, Hassan ag Touhami and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni picked up the guitar and forged a style from the pulsating rhythm of the tindé and the gait of the camel. Modernity married tradition. The contemporary sound of the desert was on its way.

On that night in Paris, by coming to the front of stage and keeling down at the feet of this great woman, guitars slung over their shoulders, Tinariwen lavished gratitude on Lalla Badi, and sealed their respect forever. As if blessed by this diva, who hadn’t performed in France for over thirty years, this unique encounter could then get underway, with its festive rather than melancholic repertoire ensuing.

With this concert, that came at the very end of a tour comprising more than 130 dates, undertaken in part to promote their last album Emmaar, Tinariwen pay an extraordinary homage to the grandeur and vitality of Tamashek culture. The recording of that night will no doubt remain in the annals of music, just as it will remain etched in the heart’s and mind’s of its audience.

Watch a video of Tinariwen performing their song "Tinde Final Tinariwen" live with Lalla Badi here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LskxVbxr7wc

“The themes persist: war, exile, the desert and the mirage of love. With Tinariwen's members effectively refugees thanks to regional conflicts back home in North Africa, their blues are as deep as ever.” - Rolling Stone

Browse by Artist

2082All Artists 99Tom Waits 73Mavis Staples 59Neko Case 51Lost In The Trees 50Sean Rowe 48Dr. Dog 45The Milk Carton Kids
41Jolie Holland 40Bettye LaVette 37Man Man 36Son Little 35Tinariwen 33Tim Fite 33DeVotchKa 31Islands 31Grinderman 29Glen Hansard 28Saintseneca 27Galactic 27Wilco 26Andy Shauf 25Delicate Steve 25The Drums 24Xenia Rubinos 24Michael Franti and Spe... 22Doe Paoro 22Bob Mould 22William Elliott Whitmo... 21Nick Cave & The Bad Se... 21The Frames 20Joe Henry 20Christopher Paul Stell... 19Cass McCombs 19Yves Jarvis 19Booker T. Jones 19Sage Francis 18Calexico 18Deafheaven 18Gary V 17John K. Samson 17Yann Tiersen 16The Antlers 16Jason Lytle 16Danny Elfman 16Ramblin Jack Elliott 14Jeremy Ivey 14Daniel Lanois 13The Dream Syndicate 13Madi Diaz 13Billy Bragg 12Leyla McCalla 12Xavier Rudd 12Combo Chimbita 12Peter Silberman 12Girlpool 11The Weakerthans 11Ryan Pollie 11Lyrics Born 11Rain Machine 11Roky Erickson 11Glitterer 11Purr 11Jade Jackson 11Mose Allison 10Alfa Mist 10So Much Light 10The Melodic 10The Swell Season 10Darrin Bradbury 10Half Waif 10High Pulp 9Wynonna 9M. Ward 9Curtis Harding 9Cameron Avery 9N.A.S.A. 9Josiah Johnson 9Marianne Faithfull 9Moor Mother 9Lido Pimienta 9Hey, King! 8Katy Kirby 8Greg Graffin 8Kate Davis 8Christian Lee Hutson 8Slow Pulp 8The Coup 8Solillaquists of Sound 8Cadence Weapon 7Ben Harper 7Richard Reed Parry 7Kelly Hogan 7Elliott Smith 7Ben Harper and Charlie... 7Title Fight 7Alec Ounsworth 7Eddie Izzard 7Beth Orton 7Japandroids 7Dead Man's Bones 6Bonny Doon 6Os Mutantes 6Broken Twin 6Rafiq Bhatia 6Busdriver 6Deradoorian 6A Girl Called Eddy 6Kate Bush 5Keaton Henson 5Foxwarren 5James Brandon Lewis 5Scott McMicken and THE... 5Beat Connection 5The Tallest Man On Ear... 5One Day As A Lion 5The Field 5Jasmyn 5Kristine Leschper 5Art Moore 5Ezra Furman 4Marketa Irglova 4The Good Ones 4Ersi Arvizu 4Jackson+Sellers 4Sparklehorse 4sunking 4Pops Staples 3MJ Lenderman 3Danny Cohen 3Walter Wolfman Washing... 3Plains 3Mavis Staples & Levon... 3Mothers 3Sierra Leones Refugee... 3Marc Ribot 3Waxahatchee 3Petra Haden 2Various Artists: RANGO 2Fleet Foxes 2Sam Akpro 2Jeff Tweedy 2ANTI- Records 1Youth Group 1Merle Haggard 1Solomon Burke 1Taylor Vick 1Simian Mobile Disco 1Various Artists: ROGUE... 1case/lang/veirs 1Joe Strummer And The M... 1Rogue's Gallery 1The Locust 1Tricky 1Antibalas 1Kronos Quartet with Br... 1Porter Wagoner 1Blackalicious 1Lightman Jarvis Ecstat...
See Full List+