‘Toumast Tincha (The People Have Been Sold Out)’ – Tinariwen

It’s an untypical music video, which Antoine Carlier produced for Tinariwen‘s track ‘Toumast Tincha‘ (Tamasheq for ‘The People Have Been Sold Out’), the first release of their new album. But considering the central role, which the desert plays for these Touareg blues virtuosi, we quickly understand why. According to to them “the desert is a place of hardship and subtle beauty, a stark world that reveals its secrets slowly and carefully”. But we shouldn’t be misled. The desert seen in the video is not the Malian desert, it is not Azawad. It is California. Due to the political instabilty in Northern Mali, Tinariwen recorded their last Grammy-awarded album ‘Tassilli‘ in Algeria and the forthcoming one, entitled ‘Emmaar‘ in Joshua Tree National Park/ USA: “We love all the desert, these are places where we feel good to live and to create.“

Based on the current situation in Northern Mali, Tinariwen’s prospect for the future do not seem to be positive. In ‘Toumast Tincha‘ band member Eyadou ag Leche sings: “The ideals of the people have been sold cheap, my friends … A peace imposed by force is bound to fail/ And gives way to hatred.” Let’s hope they will be able to record their next album in their home country.

‘Emmaar’ will be released on February 11th 2014. We can expect nothing less than a masterpiece.