The Grammy Award winning (for their 2011 album 'Tassili') Saharan desert-rock group Tinariwen (fresh off a 2018 Grammy nomination for 'Elwan') are headed to Australia including WOMADelaide.
Over the course of eight albums, countless world tours and influencing the likes of Thom York and TV On The Radio, Tinariwen have proved they are kings of the desert-blues genre.
What were some of the highlights for Tinariwen last year?
[Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni] Our successful USA tour. It was our first tour where most of the shows were sold-out.
The Asian tour: we played in Bangladesh, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong. It was great to meet a completely different cultural audience.
How are you feeling about your upcoming Australian shows?
This is far away. We’ve been to Australia a few times in the past and we met Aboriginal tribes; we feel close to these people. I hope we will meet them again.
As part of the Australian tour you'll also be playing again at WOMADelaide. Has this become a special stop for the band on your global tour schedule?
WOMAD festivals were the first to invite us in the UK, Spain, Emirates etc. This was a great initiative from Peter Gabriel to make the world discover different arts coming from different places in the world.
Which band members will be on tour this time?
Ibrahim, Abdallah, Hassan, Said, Elaga and Cheikh.
What can audiences expect from these shows?
We hope they will enjoy, dance, shout and cry.
Will you have a chance to explore some more of Australia?
Usually we don’t have any time when we are touring to visit the countries where we are playing, but we have one day off in Sydney. We’ll certainly hang around in the city.
You released your latest album 'Elwan' last year. Can you tell us about the process of recording 'Elwan'?
We started the recording in America at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree. Then we spent three weeks in Morocco and finished the album in Paris.
It is very important for us to spend the maximum time in a natural environment. This is really what inspired us.
'Elwan' was nominated as Best World Music Album at the 2018 Grammys. Congrats.
We’d like to win for sure. But we don’t play music to get awards obviously.
Does the presence of Ansar Dine and the JNIM (Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin') in Mali still cause political issues for the band and its members?
Islamic extremism in our land is a problem for everybody, it is a problem in the middle of many others.
Drug traffic, geopolitical issues in regards to the natural resources of the Sahara, Malian administration in the North of Mali (no schools, no hospitals), climate change.
What does the band have planned for 2018?
We are touring again the USA and Canada this summer, then we are starting to think about the new album.
Tinariwen Tour Dates
Sat 10 Mar - Parramasala (Sydney)11-12 Mar - WOMADelaide (Adelaide)
Tue 14 Mar - Melbourne Recital Centre
Wed 15 Mar - The Factory Theatre (Sydney)
