On November 4, 2022, a selection of special catalog projects will be released by Tuareg group Tinariwen, who are currently on tour across Europe and the USA. Vinyl reissues of Independiente-era albums Aman Iman and Imidiwan: Companions are available to pre-order now via Craft Recordings. A new rarities album, Kel Tinariwen, is also available via Wedge/Warp.
A blend of West African traditional music and electrified rock ’n’ roll—a sound that critics have described as “desert blues”—Aman Iman (Water Is Life) was Tinariwen’s third studio album, originally released in 2007, and recorded in Mali’s capital, Bamako. It was produced by Justin Adams (Robert Plant’s guitarist and producer of Tinariwen’s debut album The Radio Tisdas Sessions) with recording engineer Ben Findlay. The whole Tinariwen story breathes through its 12 songs, beginning with the first Touareg rebellion of 1963, which lies at the root of so much pain and trauma in the Malian Touareg mindset and which is vividly recalled by Ibrahim in his brooding song “Soixante Trois.”
Imidiwan: Companions was the band’s fourth album, and it possesses all the elements that have made them so alluring: raw simplicity, melodic beauty, songs ranging from the epic and universal to the intimate and personal. The 13-track album, produced by Jean-Paul Romann, was recorded in Tessalit, the Malian desert village home of band members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Hassan Ag Touhami. Both reissues feature original artwork replications and are pressed on 180-gram vinyl at MPO/Noiseland in France.
Also releasing November 4 is Kel Tinariwen, an early cassette tape recorded in the early ’90s that never received a wider release and that sheds new light on the band’s already rich history. This title is available to pre-order now on LP, CD and cassette.
The legendary group is currently on tour in the United Kingdom before beginning a US tour on September 9 in Chicago, Illinois.