Ambiances du Sahara: Desert Blues, released in '96, was a huge hit that lingered on Europe's world-music charts for months. Such success has sparked Desert Blues 2, a second double-CD compilation… By ...

Our featured anthology celebrates a paradox: there are few more fertile places - musically - than Africa's drier regions. They're especially rich in great singers & players of various species of lute, ...

Last November, when Stephen Colbert invited members of Tinariwen onto his cable TV show, he made history of sorts: Never before had a “desert blues” band gabbed about their lives — and performed — on ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

Liya Ag Ablil (R) and Sanou Ag Ahmed of the Malian desert blues group Terakaft perform in Austin, Texas on March 15, 2012 during the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. Unrest in northern Mali has ...

GROWING UP in Niger, Mdou Moctar listened to traditional Tuareg music. Women played the imzad, a one-stringed fiddle, and the goatskin tindé drum, while men trilled on the shepherd’s flute. Takamba ...

Guitar gods of North Africa bring their hypnotic trance to these shores in summer Tinariwen Tinariwen. Photo: Eric Chute Tinariwen in the USA Tinariwen at Electric Picnic in 2008. Photo: PA Tinariwen ...

The passion and range of the Saharan Tuareg band’s music was somewhat lost in translation until their gig’s triumphant finale It wasn’t until the encore that Ousmane Ag Mossa invited a translator on ...