20 years ago, the Tuareg orchestra Tinariwen released its sensational album Amassakoul, thanks to which the West was able to fall in love with tichoumaren, this electrifying blues-rock sound of the musicians of the Sahel. Far from dying out, the honeymoon between Saharan rock and European and American audiences is stretching out, fueled by the talent of successors Mdou Moctar, Les Filles de Illighadad and Omara Moctar, known as Bombino, one of the headliners of the outdoor concert series of the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival. A conversation with your feet in the sand with the modern nomad.
Funny coincidence. On a North American tour for two weeks, Tuareg guitar virtuoso Bombino stopped by the side of the road to chat with The duty ; this one crosses the dunes of New Mexico, a familiar landscape for the musician from the city of Agadez, in central Niger, gateway to the Sahara.
“Yes, well, for you it’s a desert, but here, we have the real desert,” Bombino describes, in the tone of a guy who has seen others. “That, what you call a desert, well, for me it’s a bit of a modern desert, let’s say,” he adds with a laugh. “A desert with nice roads, cellular network, there’s even water and electricity. It’s different from the real desert in northern Niger. Where I live, there are no nice roads or electricity — that’s the real desert. It’s not necessarily more beautiful, but it’s harder, that’s true. We’ll have a long road to cross today, but it will be easy.”
“You know, in the desert, at home, there is this immense silence that you don’t find anywhere else,” continues the guitarist. “And the stars, we think they are closer to us. The sky is wide open, you can see what’s happening up there.” Bombino describes, so that we know and remember it, the beauty of these desert landscapes on Sahelan album released last fall, remarkable of course thanks to the musician’s guitar playing, but also for the range of emotions it explores, from the harshness of electric blues to the caress of his acoustic ballads: “You know, it’s good to also tell stories of love, friendship, encounters and travels. It’s important to offer these songs so that my fans can get to know my story better.”
Which is also a bit like that of the Sahara, which the musician wishes to preserve: “When you look at these places, some are in bad shape, the roads are not maintained, there is a lack of development.” The desert is left “to people with bad intentions, to mafias. None of the countries [du Sahel] has no real control over its borders, and above all, no government knows how to trust the people who live there, the nomads, the Arabs, the Tuaregs, the Fulani.”
The conversation quickly turns to politics, another theme of Bombino’s work — and that of his colleagues, Mdou Moctar appearing as the most militant (and sounding the most rock!) through his last two albums, entitled Africa victim (2021) and Funeral for Justice (2024). This time, no coincidence: the day before our interview, the first meeting of the leaders (all military and recently taken to power following coups d’état) of the new Confederation of Sahel States, formed by Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, was taking place in Niamey, the capital of Niger, an alliance that some interpreted as a gesture of autonomy vis-à-vis the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which was also holding a meeting that same weekend, in early July.
“Yes, I followed this conference a little, but what is certain is that all this does not inspire me at all,” comments Bombino. “Because all these powers were acquired by force, and everything that is taken by force is unequal. If everyone had to take up arms… The Tuaregs tried to do it before too, but then, we talk about them as bandits and rebels, but when the army does it, it becomes normal. In Mali, in Burkina Faso, they are killing the Tuaregs, pretending that they are terrorists.”
Arriving in America at the end of June, Bombino made a point of attending Mdou Moctar’s concert at the Warsaw, a 1,000-seat venue in the heart of Brooklyn. “I was just there to see him, and then he invited me to play with him on stage,” he says, adding that the entire community of bluesmen (And blues women) Tuareg is in contact — so much so that the project to build a recording studio in Agadez was in the plans, before the pandemic forced its postponement.
“When you compose and record, it’s good to be at home, it’s quieter, you can think better. When you compose, you need a place where you feel comfortable, and that’s with family and friends. But COVID arrived, and the financing of the project couldn’t be held. This studio, above all, would be useful for new talents, for those who, like me, cannot travel.”
Bombino will be in concert at the outdoor site of the Festival international Nuits d’Afrique on July 16 at 9:30 p.m., then at Festif! in Baie-Saint-Paul on July 18 at 10 p.m.