with Marisa Anderson
In the crowded scene of Tuareg guitarists, Mdou Moctar stands apart
from his peers. Playing in the repertoire of desert guitar popularized
by groups like Tinariwen and Bombino, Mdou is pushing the boundaries
of the genre with a unique personal sound. With versatile compositions
and genre defying albums, Mdous music has been an underground success
with an international following, set on redefining the sound of the
desert.Mdou Moctar hails from a small village in the Azawagh desert of
Niger, a remote region steeped in religious tradition. As a child, he
taught himself to play the a homemade guitars, cobbled together out of
planks of wood. It was years later before he found a real guitar,
teaching himself in secret. In an area where guitar music was all but
prohibited, he quickly rose to the status of local celebrity amongst
the village youth.In 2008 he traveled to Nigeria to record his first
album Anar. A psychedelic reworking of the Tuareg sound, the
electronic tracks featured innovative pitch bending synths, drum
machines, and autotune. In 2010, he teamed up with the label and
collective Sahel Sounds, releasing his first international album,
Afelan. In 2015, he co-wrote and starred in the first ever Tuareg
language film, Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red In It, a Saharan
remake of Princes Purple Rain. In 2017, he again shifted gears to
another sound with Sousoume Tamachek, a mellow blissed out recording
evoking the calm desert soundscape, tackling religion, spirituality,
and matters of the heart.In the past years, Tuareg rock music has
gotten faster. There is a preference for this new style, both in the
raucous weddings of Agadez and in Berlin rock clubs. The wavering
guitar solos, rapid fire drums and heavy distortion has become
characteristic of the contemporary sound. Mdou takes on this
challenge, but with an ear towards tradition. Rooted in traditional,
with borrowed polyrhythms of traditional takamba and lyrics sung in
the style of old nomadic poets, his guitar playing is wild and
unrelenting, equal parts nomadic bard and Eddie Van Halen. Mdou Moctar
and his band have toured Europe and North America, playing sold out
shows from small DIY rock clubs in Portland to New York Citys Lincoln
Center. His music has been featured in the BBC, The Guardian,
Pitchfork, New Yorker, L.A. Weekly, NPR, Rolling Stone, Les Inrocks,
and his film continues to be screened at film festivals around the
world. From underground star of Niger to international film star, Mdou
Moctar has undoubtedly one of the quickest rises to success.
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22/04/2019 Last update