Name: Amatssou
Brand: Tinariwen

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

WEDGELPC0123

Colour

White

Colour details

Discogs ID

{"time": 1678800091275, "blocks": [], "version": "2.26.4"}

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: Yes

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

Housed in Gatefold Sleeve with Printed Inner and 20 Page 12" Booklet 

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-05-19

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

5056614703726

Total Cap

White LP

WEDGELP0123

Black

Extended format: No

5056614702859

Black LP

WEDGECD0123

Download code: No

Digipack with 20 Page Booklet

5056614700657

Artist

Tinariwen

Genre GB

African

Label GB

Wedge

Tinariwen is a Tuareg group formed in 1982. They identify as Tuareg and reject the borders that separate Algeria and Mali, considering them products of colonialism. Their music blends blues, rock, and traditional Tuareg styles.

The band's name, "Tinariwen," translates to "empty place" in the language of the Saharan desert Berbers. Some of their album artwork features symbols resembling "+10:1" or "+IO:I." These symbols are actually the band's name written in Tifinagh script.

Experience the unique sound of Tinariwen as they take you on a musical journey through their rich cultural heritage.

Some people have commented that Tinariwen have always been a country band, albeit a North African take on that most North American of genres. That idea is magnified on new album Amatssou, which finds the Tuareg band’s trademark snaking guitar lines and hypnotic rhythms blending seamlessly with pedal steel, piano and strings from guest musicians including Daniel Lanois, the embellished arrangements lending the songs an epic, universal application.

Full of poetic allegory, the lyrics call for unity and freedom. There are songs of struggle and resistance with oblique references to the recent desperate political upheavals in Mali and the increasing power of the Salafists. “Dear brothers all rest, all leisure will always be far from reach unless your homeland is liberated and all the elders can live there in dignity,” Ibrahim Ag Alhabib sings on ‘Arajghiyine.’ The album’s title Amatssou is Tamashek for ‘Beyond The Fear’ and it fits - Tinariwen have always been characterised by their fearlessness - and as Bob Dylan once said, the power of rock’n’roll is that it makes us “oblivious to the fear” as the music gives us the strength and resilience to confront adversity.

In the two decades since Tinariwen emerged from their base in the African desert to tour the globe, they have got to know many renowned country, folk, and rock musicians from the USA including Kurt Vile, Stephen O'Malley, Jack White, and Wilco. Tuareg nomads and cowboy drifters. Camel trains and mustang horses. The timeless horizon of the endless Sahara and the wild frontier of the Old West - several thousand miles of ocean may divide the desert blues of Tinariwen and the authentic country music of rural America but the links are as palpable as they are romantic.

Amatssou

Music GB