Their backstory has been called “the most compelling of any band” — a stranger than fiction saga involving a guitar made from a tin can and stick; a word-of-mouth following fueled by the cassette underground, and an alliance formed in the refugee camps and military bases of Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya.
Founded by singer, guitarist and soldier Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, the multi-generational collective known as Tinariwen (pronounced tee-nah-ree-WEN) emerged from the Saharan sands to give voice to the nomadic Tuareg people of Mali and north Africa — popular music played by men who literally fought on the side of Tuareg rebel forces, when they weren’t entertaining at parties, weddings and festivals. Mixing diverse regional ethnic forms with Western pop influences; incorporating traditional instruments within an electrified wall of sound, Tinariwen have reached out to new fans on five continents, a journey that’s taken them from the most isolated refugee villages to top-ticket music fests, The Colbert Report and now, the Pollak Theatre at Monmouth.
