{"title":"Wedge","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"amatssou-deluxe-bonus-tracks","title":"Amatssou Deluxe Bonus Tracks","description":"\u003cp\u003eTinariwen, the pioneering, Grammy-winning Tuareg collective,\nshare a new limited edition picture disc vinyl. It features the\nfour bonus tracks that originally appeared on the deluxe\nedition of their acclaimed ninth studio album \u003ci\u003eAmatssou\u003c\/i\u003e. Lead\nsingle ‘He Layla’ is inspired by a traditional song from the\nDjanet region (where the Amatssou album was recorded). In\ntypical Tinariwen fashion, the song tells the story of the past\nwhen the Sahara was under the French colony – poetry using\nmetaphors of the wild life of the desert.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the two decades since Tinariwen emerged from their base\nin the African desert to tour the globe, they have got to know\nmany renowned country, folk, and rock musicians from the\nUSA including Kurt Vile, Stephen O'Malley, Jack White, and\nWilco. Tuareg nomads and cowboy drifters. Camel trains and\nmustang horses. The timeless horizon of the endless Sahara\nand the wild frontier of the Old West - several thousand miles\nof ocean may divide the desert blues of Tinariwen and the\nauthentic country music of rural America but the links are as\npalpable as they are romantic.\n\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"White LP","offer_id":50382801830219,"sku":"2176376","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/WEDGEEP0123_Packshot-1_9c2e10d4_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726259486"},{"product_id":"amatssou","title":"Amatssou","description":"\u003cp\u003eSome people have commented that Tinariwen have always been a country band, albeit a North African take on that most North American of genres. That idea is magnified on new album \u003ci\u003eAmatssou,\u003c\/i\u003e which finds the Tuareg band’s trademark snaking guitar lines and hypnotic rhythms blending seamlessly with pedal steel, piano and strings from guest musicians including Daniel Lanois, the embellished arrangements lending the songs an epic, universal application. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFull of poetic allegory, the lyrics call for unity and freedom. There are songs of struggle and resistance with oblique references to the recent desperate political upheavals in Mali and the increasing power of the Salafists. “Dear brothers all rest, all leisure will always be far from reach unless your homeland is liberated and all the elders can live there in dignity,” Ibrahim Ag Alhabib sings on ‘Arajghiyine.’ The album’s title \u003ci\u003eAmatssou\u003c\/i\u003e is Tamashek for ‘Beyond The Fear’ and it fits - Tinariwen have always been characterised by their fearlessness - and as Bob Dylan once said, the power of rock’n’roll is that it makes us “oblivious to the fear” as the music gives us the strength and resilience to confront adversity. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the two decades since Tinariwen emerged from their base in the African desert to tour the globe, they have got to know many renowned country, folk, and rock musicians from the USA including Kurt Vile, Stephen O'Malley, Jack White, and Wilco. Tuareg nomads and cowboy drifters. Camel trains and mustang horses. The timeless horizon of the endless Sahara and the wild frontier of the Old West - several thousand miles of ocean may divide the desert blues of Tinariwen and the authentic country music of rural America but the links are as palpable as they are romantic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"White LP","offer_id":50383797977419,"sku":"2016409","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50383792865611,"sku":"2016408","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50383802335563,"sku":"2016410","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/WedgeLP0123_cover_3000PX_Amatssou_5f784609_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726277301"},{"product_id":"elwan","title":"Elwan","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe new album \u003ci\u003eElwan\u003c\/i\u003e by Tinariwen could well have been called \u003ci\u003eExile on Main Street\u003c\/i\u003e. Others have already thought of that, but the idea is apt. In recent years, Tinariwen’s homeland, a Saharan mountain range between north-eastern Mali and southern Algeria, has been transformed into a conflict zone. While the songs on the new record evoke those cherished deserts of home, they were recorded a long way away in two distinctive bursts. In 2014 the band stopped at Rancho de la Luna studios in the desert of California’s Joshua Tree National Park. While location proved particularly propitious in terms of creativity, the human climate was just as favorable, as musicians dropped by to add their own touch. Guitarist Matt Sweeny (Johnny Cash, Bonnie Prince Billy and Cat Power), Kurt Vile, musician Alan Johannes, who produced Queens of the Stone Age. All of it honed by engineer Andrew Schepps, who has worked with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Johny Cash, and Jay Z. Two years later in M’Hamid El Ghizlane, an oasis in southern Morocco, near the Algerian frontier, the band set up their tents to record, accompanied by the local musical youth and a Ganga outfit (a group of Berber ‘gnawa’ trance musicians). The resulting album is called \u003ci\u003eElwan\u003c\/i\u003e (‘The Elephants’), not \u003ci\u003eExile On Main Street\u003c\/i\u003e, though it fits nicely into that ‘road record’ category. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCD - Digipack.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2LP - Heavyweight double LP with etching on Side 4. Vinyl format also includes a copy of the album on CD. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50419138527563,"sku":"1001975","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/4debb4e6-d8d2-48c9-a9e5-44eacdeeb6a4_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726745992"},{"product_id":"amassakoul-reissue","title":"Amassakoul (Reissue)","description":"\u003cp\u003eTinariwen’s breakthrough album originally released in 2004, now remastered and repackaged with a bonus unreleased track, exclusive photos and brand-new liner notes. \u003ci\u003eAmassakoul\u003c\/i\u003e features songs from Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, Touhami Ag Alhassane. Tinariwen are Tuaregs, children of a nomadic Berber tribe who have roamed the Saharan desert for thousands of years. Over recent centuries, colonialism has seen the Tuareg’s ancestral territory partitioned into distinct countries - Mali, Algeria, Libya, Niger. This drawing of borders has turned the Tuareg into ishumar, a displaced people in search of a homeland lost to them. Tinariwen’s music – a blend of West African traditional music and electrified rock’n’roll – speaks directly to this feeling of longing: a sound that critics have called “desert blues”. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"Purple | LP | x2","offer_id":50437662802251,"sku":"1144800","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/f842ff0b-0583-4e87-8303-abdce2fb24c1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726933544"},{"product_id":"the-radio-tisdas-sessions-reissue","title":"The Radio Tisdas Sessions (Reissue)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe 20th Anniversary edition of Tinariwen’s first studio album \u003ci\u003eThe Radio Tisdas Sessions\u003c\/i\u003e has been remastered and repackaged with a bonus unreleased bonus track, exclusive photos and brand-new liner notes. \u003ci\u003eThe Radio Tisdas Sessions\u003c\/i\u003e feature songs from Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Kedou Ag Ossad, Mohamed Ag Itlal aka ‘Japonais' who passed away on February 14th 2021, and Foy Foy. Tinariwen are Tuaregs, children of a nomadic Berber tribe who have roamed the Saharan desert for thousands of years. Over recent centuries, colonialism has seen the Tuareg’s ancestral territory partitioned into distinct countries - Mali, Algeria, Libya, Niger. This drawing of borders has turned the Tuareg into ishumar, a displaced people in search of a homeland lost to them. 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Not having yet developed the fuller band sound that they became internationally established with, Kel Tinariwen features their trademark hypnotic guitar lines and call-and-response vocals weaving in between raw drum machine rhythms and keyboard melodies that almost evoke an Arabic take on 80s synth-pop. There’s distinct parallels with the sounds found on this tape and the work uncovered in recent years by cratedigger labels such as Awesome Tapes From Africa, Sahel Sounds and Sublime Frequencies. \u003ci\u003eKel Tinariwen\u003c\/i\u003e features songs from Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, Hassan Ag Touhami aka ‘Abin Abin’, Kedou Ag Ossad, Liya Ag Ablil aka ‘Diarra’ and Keltoum Sennhauser. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50490703642955,"sku":"1166070","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50490703839563,"sku":"1166069","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/d344ff08-055b-435b-a14b-214e1649cf29_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727670924"},{"product_id":"amadjar","title":"Amadjar","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe best Tinariwen album hasn’t been recorded yet. Perhaps it never will be. Because the best Tinariwen music isn’t the music they perform in front of microphones. It’s the music they play at night around the fire, back in their own country, amongst themselves and at their own pace. Having eaten, and drunk their tea, the men bring out their guitars, chat, remember old songs and let the music come. In those moments, the music can become like the fire, free, magical and impossible to stuff into a box. It rises up like a shower of sparks or a state of grace, without premeditation; the momentary manifestation of a friendship, a community, an environment, a history; the revelatory connection with something that belongs only to them, and goes beyond them. Their discography stretching out over the last 17 years, all the tours and the international recognition have changed nothing: Tinariwen are still a desert band, only certain aspects of which the western music industry can ever hope to capture and present. Tinariwen existed long before any of their albums were recorded, and they still exist quite distinct from their discographic dimension. So, the best Tinariwen album doesn’t exist. But it’s still worth trying to go and find it. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story of \u003ci\u003eAmadjar\u003c\/i\u003e, the ninth Tinariwen album, begins at the end of October 2018, at the Taragalte Festival of nomadic cultures in the Moroccan Sahara. After a concert and a sandstorm, Tinariwen hit the road and head for Mauritania, via southern Morocco, Western Sahara and the Atlantic coast. The destination is important (the band have to set up and record their album there, and hook up with the singer Noura Mint Seymali), but no more so than the journey itself. Tinariwen are joined by their French production team, who arrive in old camper van that’s been converted into a makeshift studio. The journey to Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, takes a dozen days or so. Every evening, the caravan stops to set up camp and the members of Tinariwen get to work under the stars – a whole lot better than being in a studio after all – to prepare for the recording, talking things through, letting their guitar motifs, thoughts and long buried songs come. Then, during a final camp in the desert around Nouakchott that lasts about fifteen days, to an audience of scorpions, the band record their songs under large tent. In a few live takes, without headphones or effects. The Mauritanian griotte Noura Mint Seymali and her guitarist husband, Jeiche Ould Chigaly, come to throw their musical tradition on the embers lit by Tinariwen – the curling vocals of Noura Mint Seymali on the song ‘Amalouna’ will become a highlight. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis nomadic album, recorded in a natural setting, is as close as you can get to Tinariwen. And also, therefore, to the idea that things can evolve: bassist Eyadou plays a lot of acoustic guitar; percussionist Said tries his hand at new instruments; Abdallah exhumes songs that he’s never played on stage with Tinariwen. And that violin that appears on several songs and reminds you of the traditional \u003ci\u003eimzad\u003c\/i\u003e? It’s actually played by Warren Ellis. The violinist in Nick Cave’s band is one of several western guests on the album. We also hear the mandolin and charango of Micah Nelson (son of the country music giant Willie Nelson, and Neil Young’s guitarist), and the guitars of Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O)))), Cass McCombs and Rodolphe Burger. The album is mixed by Jack White’s buddy Joshua Vance Smith.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP | x2","offer_id":50498347270475,"sku":"1067136","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50498347106635,"sku":"1067127","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/17698751-829f-4bb5-b0d1-d8a67a7b85a4_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727745421"},{"product_id":"idrache-traces-of-the-past-2","title":"Idrache (Traces Of The Past)","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere are a dozen hidden gems from the Sahara. Rough hewn, but intimate and beautiful recordings by Tinariwen, the world’s most famous Tuareg band. Some are demos that were later released in more produced versions on subsequent albums and four of them have never been released before. This is music to transport you, music that makes you feel you are in the Sahara with these extraordinary musicians for whom it is their home and their inspiration. These are raw desert treasures, recorded live with no overdubs, that are only emerging into the sunlight with this album of rarities, \u003ci\u003eIdrache, Traces of the Past\u003c\/i\u003e. With their long desert robes and Tuareg turbans or shesh, Tinariwen are the originators of what’s become known as ‘desert blues’, a style of music they themselves call ‘assuf’ which also means ‘longing’ or ‘homesickness’ in the Tamasheq language. Exchanging Kalashnikovs for guitars after participating in the 1990 Tuareg rebellion, Tinariwian really are rock ’n’ roll rebels, drawing people into their growling vocals, spacey guitar lines and clapping rhythms. The songs on this album were recorded in 2002, 2006 and 2008, the first about a decade after the band started to become known internationally.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50510780793163,"sku":"2225898","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Idrache_Traces_of_the_Past_20cb5f6a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727879918"},{"product_id":"live-in-paris-2014","title":"Live in Paris 2014","description":"\u003cp\u003eTinariwen release a live album - 'Live In Paris, Oukis N'Asuf' on Wedge. The album was recorded at a very special concert at the Bouffes du Nord in Paris on Saturday 13th December 2014 and features the band performing alongside 75-year-old 'grand dame' of Tamashek culture Lalla Badi. The album's title, Oukis N'Asuf, which, translated literally, means to take away, forget or get over heart-ache and longing. Asuf - the longing of the soul - conjures up the feeling of separation from the Touareg camp, the physical environment of the desert, its emptiness, its blackness, and its spirits. A hypnotic evening of guitar and tinde (small mortar drum covered by a taut goatskin) normally reserved for more in intimate spaces - around a fire in the desert in southern Algeria perhaps, or in the yard of a house somewhere in the northern Mali - this very special show came at the very end of a tour comprising more than 130 dates, undertaken in part to promote their last album Emmaar. Lalla Badi, who remains the queen of tinde (a word that denotes both an instrument played exclusively by women, and a poetic repertoire which is sung at ceremonies and special occasions), is originally from Timiaoune in the far south of the Algerian Sahara and now lives in Tamanrasset. She became a mentor to the Touareg in the 1970s, thanks both to her mastery of this musical genre and her commitment to the Touareg cause. Back then she took in the ishumars (unemployed vagrants), those Touareg who had set off to Libya in search of a better life. Like them, the future members of Tinariwen also fled repression and the crippling droughts of northern Mali in those dark years, stopping off in Algeria along the way. Lalla Badi took them under her wing, became like a mother to them, a big sister, an accomplice and the performance in Paris, her first show in France in over thirty years, gave Tinarwen the opportunity to show their respect and gratitude.2LP - With Download.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50532233380171,"sku":"394169","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a9a1e0df-6820-4afb-98fa-2297e1cd727e_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728117171"},{"product_id":"hoggar","title":"Hoggar","description":"\u003cp\u003eTinariwen evolve once again on their brand new album, connecting with a younger generation of Tuareg musicians to produce a vibrant album of undulating grooves rooted in their nomadic community. Also featuring guest appearances from José González \u0026amp; Sulafa Elyas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFierce advocates for their people’s nomadic culture that exists in the desert borderlands between Mali and Algeria, Tinariwen’s bluesy, guitar-driven music has found global acclaim over the past two decades for its lively blend of Tamasheq-language politicism, syncopated rhythms and soaring melody.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile previous records like 2023’s \u003cem\u003eAmatssou\u003c\/em\u003e saw the group collaborate with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson producer Daniel Lanois, on \u003cem\u003eHoggar\u003c\/em\u003e the band look closer to home, and stake their claim as elders of this Tuareg musical tradition. Going back to their early years of songwriting with acoustic guitars and communal singing around the desert campfire, while also passing the torch onto a younger generation of featured musicians who can continue to keep the flame of rebellion and defiance alive.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wedge","offers":[{"title":"LP - White","offer_id":56339082510667,"sku":"R7304-7042","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":56339082543435,"sku":"R7304-9854","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/image_10.jpg?v=1768907016"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/wedge-1.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}