Rebels with a Cause
Rebellion is at the very heart of the rock and roll ethos. But it is rarely as tangible as with Tinariwen from northern Mali. When he was just four years old, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, founder of the group, witnessed the execution of his father, member of the Tuareg uprising in the 1960s. The young boy found solace in music. He and his companions swapped traditional local instruments such as the tahardent lute and the shepherd’s flute for electric guitars and drumkits, and they sing about the difficult issues surrounding belonging, exile and political repressions. The heralds of the Saharan nation tell their stories at Studio on 28 June. (Bartosz Suchecki, “Karnet”)
