It’s not every day you stumble upon an album rooted in contemporary Saharan music with flourishes of the late Eddie Van Halen’s distinct guitar-noodling. The excellent sixth LP from revered Tuareg guitarist and songwriter Mdou Moctar – the moniker of Mahamadou Souleymane – harmoniously marries these contrasting tonal sensibilities, presenting an irresistible and enveloping body of work. 

On 'Afrique Victime' the prodigious Tuareg guitarist and songwriter rips a new hole in the sky - boldly reforging contemporary Saharan music and 'rock music' by melding guitar pyrotechnics, full-blast noise, and field recordings with poetic meditations on love, religion, women's rights inequality, and Western Africa's exploitation at the hands of colonial powers.

Tuareg guitarist and songwriter rips a new hole in the sky ¬– boldly reforging contemporary Saharan music and “rock music” by melding guitar pyrotechnics, full-blast noise, and field recordings with poetic meditations on love, religion, women's rights, inequality, and Western Africa’s exploitation at the hands of colonial powers.

 The music listeners are the beneficiaries of the staggeringly powerful do-it-yourself musical ethic of Mdou Moctar – the man and the band – who’ve worked so hard to bring the spirits of families and communities in Niger to the West. Afrique Victime sounds and feels like a Tuareg hand reaching down from the sky, and we are very lucky for this chance to get lifted.

chismiten
taliat
ya habibti
tala tannam
untitled
asdikte akal
layla
afrique victime
bismilahi atagah