“The group Tinariwen first formed in the Tuareg military camps of Libya and Algeria in the 1980s, the early days of the Tuareg’s armed struggle for support and recognition in the region. Much of the fighting occurred in Mali, where most of the group’s members come from, but being nomads, and people who have intertwined musical expression and political struggle in the vast expanse of the Sahara, the members of Tinariwen have far flung and complex lines of loyalty and association. Take for instance the fact that the group rarely tours with the exact same lineup. If you catch them in Mali, you might find a veritable clan on the stage. Some of their tours have included two female vocalists, and the guitar lineup can change from tour to tour. Tinariwen’s chief spokesman Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni has described the group as a family, a spiritual collective who deliver a deeply hypnotic dose of Tuareg reality wherever they are, even though the complete coterie of members is virtually never in the same place at the same time…”

Read the rest of the review over at AfroPop.