Group Inerane - Guitars From Agadez (Music Of Niger)

Group Inerane - Guitars From Agadez (Music Of Niger)

Verdict: 4/5
Label

Sublime Frequencies

CATALOG NO

SF034

RELEASE DATE

2007

Written By

Dragos Rusu

Published

February 5, 2014

Sublime Frequencies delivers this crème de la crème album of ‘’music of Niger’’, centering on the music of the Group Inerane, which is inspired by the rebel musicians that started this music as a political weapon, used to speak from the Libyan Refugee camps in the 1980s and 1990s.

Group Inerane has been making music for some solid years, headed by the enigmatic guitar hero Bibi Ahmed, who carries the folklore of Tamachek guitar songs for another generation. Two electric guitars, a drum kit and a chorus of vocalists it is what they need, in order to make music. These ten recordings were captured live in the city of Agadez in the Republic of Niger, between 2004 and 2007, excluding the first track (''Kuni Majagani''), which is from the Group Inerane archives.

What I like the most at this kind of music is its ethnic sound aspect, which is so vehement, that it forces you to choose whether you love it or simply hate it. There are no middle options involved. And if you like it, you’ll definitely get blown away by the guitar psychedelia that takes over each song, on different layers. Whether its folk, rock or blues, this music brings with it such an unmistakable Tuareg style that you can’t uncover it somewhere else.

Songs like ''Telilite'', ''Tenere Etran'' or ''Awal September'' own an amazing rhythmicity, continuously looping into a hypnotic mental reverie. Actually, each of the songs encompass a lot of energy, and even if the rhythm is not so different except for its speed, the guitars and the vocals really create a unique story on every recording.

This is the first volume from the series Guitars of Agadez, which Sublime Frequencies released in the past seven years. For those less familiar with Sublime Frequencies, this is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers, through film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions.

For a more profound study, don’t forget to check the video documentary DVD ‘Niger: Magic and Ecstasy in the Sahel’, out on Sublime Frequencies.

Thank you for the music!

Tracklist:

A1. Kuni Majagani
A2. Awal September
A3. Ano Nagarus
A4. Tenerte
A5. Nadan Al Kazawnin
B1. Telilite
B2. Tenere Etran
B3. Ikab Kabau
B4. Ashal Wali Tigeli
B5. Kamu Talyat