Aman Iman: Water Is Life (CD - 2007)

Tinariwen: Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, hand claps, background vocals); Mohammed Ag Itlale "Japonais" (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Alhassane Touhami (vocals, guitar, hand claps, background vocals); Ibrahim Ag Alhabib (vocals, guitar); Elaga Ag Hamid (guitar, hand claps, background vocals); Abdallah Ag Lamida "Intidao" (guitar, background vocals); Justin Adams (acoustic guitar, lute, background vocals); Eyadou Ag Leche (bass guitar, hand claps, background vocals); Salah Dawson Miller (congas, shekere); Saïd Ag Ayad (hi-hat, djembe, hand claps, background vocals); Wonou Walet Sidati, Kesa Walet Hamid (hand claps, background vocals); Hamid Ekawel (background vocals); Mama Livio, Manaki Diallo.

Sub-Saharan guitar blues has taken a strong enough foothold in the world music scene to qualify as its own genre, with its own stars and aesthetics and, now, its own alternative offshoots like Tinariwen. Formed in the 1980s in Muammar Qaddafi's rebel training camps, this group of Touareg nomads and former soldiers play droning, heartfelt, trance-inducing blues.

Like their Malian peers, they favor hypnotic, single-note guitar runs with gutbucket vocals that double the guitar melody. Where they differ is in an improvisational group dynamic that adds elements of funk, rock, and a certain hallucinatory desert feel that seems less inspired by American blues forms and more an organic outpouring of pure inspiration, creating an utterly compelling, sui generis sound. On this 2007 release, their third album, these guys sing and play as if their lives depend on it.

Hand it to Tinariwen. Like the nomads they are, they don't stand still musically. On their third album (the title translates as Water Is Life), they keep the root intact, the desert blues still at the heart of all they do, but this builds upon what they achieved on their superb sophomore disc, happily restless and unafraid of walking down new paths. However, although they're rightly lauded for their widescreen blues sound, what emerges most here is something they hinted at on the last record -- they're a remarkable rock & roll band, too. The guitars, locked together in rhythm and lead, create a glorious syncopated noise that puts most rockers to shame. But there's a wonderful looseness to the sound (kudos to producer Justin Adams), in part due to the fact that these tracks were all recorded over just two weeks, a tiny time frame by today's standards. Recorded in the Malian capital of Bamako, these songs arrive with dust on their boots and a little thirsty. The studio touches are subtle, a little on the effects here and there, but never detract from the music -- which even features old member Mohammed Ag Itlale, whose voice and guitar can be heard on several tracks. ~ Chris Nickson minimize