Global Beat Fusion: African Guitar Gods and a Little Bit of Marley

The moment my friend Jesse sent me an early download of Tuareg musician Bombino, I fell in love. As I told him, I think I was Tuareg in a future life -- there's something about the scope of North African music, Gnawa and Tuareg to Malian blues and Nubian folk, that has dominated my music listening over the past few years. Thankfully Tinariwen pushed open a door few in America had acknowledged, thus beginning a swell of incredible Saharan artists to saunter through. Bombino's first international record, Agadez (Cumbancha), may be the best of this crop (though Tamikrest's newest, Toumastin, is giving it some heat). While lacking the textures of Tinariwen or Toumast, this is more appropriately to be seen as a one-man show, even considering that his backing band is tremendous. Given that the album has spent most of this week sitting atop the iTunes World Music charts, I'm not the only one feeling this way.

The nine-minute "Ivat Idounia Ayasahen" is the proper place to start. Bombino's animated guitar playing is enthralling. The predominant amount of this track is spent listening to him solo, a steady, easy rhythm creating a trance-like foundation indicative of many North African music forms. This combination -- a hypnotic percussion rhythm with a long history of ritual use along with a modern fascination for men like Jimi Hendrix and the electric guitar -- is what makes Tuareg music so hard to stop listening to. Long before the protests shaking up bordering countries like Egypt and Tunisia, Malian officials have fought wars with these indigenous nomads. Unromanticizing the situation: like Rom culture, Tuaregs are travelers as much (if not more so) by force than choice. Thus exists an old spirit to this music, with Bombino representing one of the most wizened. Suffering and hardship is known to produce beauty, and while he was a bit young to partake in the first revolution (in which Tinariwen members battled), his connection to the culture of resistance is strong and deep. Agadez is a spiritual and political masterpiece for his people.

More...