Desert Storm
From the depths of the Sahara, Afro-beat dervishes Tinariwen sing about war, politics and religious strife – in a way you've never heard before.
Anne Sexton, 28 Aug 2008
If you were looking for the place least like the desert, then Dublin would surely be near the top of the list. It’s a typical Irish summer’s day – windy with the threat of rain hanging overhead in dark grey clouds – but as far as Wonou Walet Sidati is concerned, it might as well be Siberia. She speaks no English and my French isn’t much better than my Tamashek but we manage to communicate using the international sign language for “I’m bloody freezing” – desperate rubbing of the arms and rueful smiles.
While Dublin and the Sahara may be divided by geography, climate, politics and language, Irish and African music get along just fine, thanks – a fact amply displayed by Dambé: The Mali Project, a documentary by Irish film-maker Dearbhla Glynn, which follows former Hothouse Flower Liam Ó Maonlaí and piper Paddy Keenan as they journey to and perform at Mali’s Festival au Deser’ – the most remote music festival in the world. The Electric Picnic it ain’t!
Which is why we’re here, standing around in the cold. Having seen their popularity in Ireland go exponential since playing support to the Rolling Stones at Slane in 2007, Tinariwen have just finished a successful spate of shows in Cork, Galway and Dublin. Like any Irish trad band worth their salt, Tinariwen are a loose collective of musicians and performers, and today vocalist Wonou as well as Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni and ‘The Lion of the Desert’ Hassan Ag Touhami are hanging out with Liam and Paddy to promote the documentary in which the band also feature. Wonou, Abdallah and Hassan are accompanied by Bastien Gsell, Tinariwen’s tour manager, who is on hand to act as translator and spokesman.
How a musical collective of North African nomads ended up outside Smithfield’s Lighthouse cinema on a chilly summer’s day is an unusual and fascinating story. For their Irish fans, Tinariwen are a musical tour de force whose compelling rhythms defy you to ignore them; but for their own people, the Touareg of the southern Sahara they are much more – icons of resistance, a musical response to oppression, poverty and exile.
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