Tinariwen (Azawad), Tuareg musical pioneers and Grammy winners, announce 2027 tour
More than 45 years into their storied career, Tinariwen return to the foundations of their sound on tenth album Hoggar, released earlier this year via their own label Wedge. The album embraces their early years of acoustic songwriting and communal singing around the desert campfire, and carrying songs of protest, love and hope in a musical tradition that has endured for generations despite repeated attempts to suppress it.
The album was recorded in Tamanrasset, capital of Algeria's Hoggar region and its namesake, marking the first time in years the band recorded close to home, with family and friends dropping by throughout the sessions.
Hoggar also reunites Tinariwen with founding member Liya "Diarra" Ag Ablil for the first time in around two decades; Diarra, who left the group to found Terakaft, plays guitar across six of the album's tracks. The album also features some very special guests in Swedish singer-guitarist José González and Sudanese singer and oud player Sulafa Elyass.
"As with all Tinariwen albums, Hoggar vibrates with life force and there's a sense of an eroding cultural edifice being preserved. But there's hope here as well as a bruised remembrance of things past. In turning inward, back to their own natural successors, Tinariwen have made a fine tenth album befitting of that milestone." - MOJO
"With Hoggar, the band embraces its role as elder statesmen, revisiting early songwriting traditions rooted in acoustic guitars and communal desert gatherings while welcoming a younger generation of collaborators poised to carry forward the music's enduring spirit of resilience and defiance." - Glide Magazine