Aman Iman: Water Is Life

iTunes Review

Though they have been playing together for decades, Libyan guitar slingers Tinariwen have had few opportunities to record in their strife-wrought musical career. Their bio includes considerably more mentions of chaos and Kalashnikovs than of recording dates and live performances. For some, this is only another part of Tinariwen’s appeal. But though they are said to bear some seventeen bullet wounds between them, all of these sensationalistic details fade to insignificance in the face of their otherworldly compositions. Tinariwen do not play traditional Taureg music, though songs like “Awa Didjen” and the plaintive “Soixante Trois” boast that music's sinuous melodies and bluesy chord progressions. But Tinariwen approach these compositions with a decidedly western attitude, lacing their desert blues with aggressive percussion and bracing feedback that enhances the hypnotic, otherworldly qualities of their music. Call it what you will, “desert psychedelia” or “bedouin guitar trance”, Tinariwen make exceptional music that has almost no corollaries in the contemporary pop landscape.