"I am a very curious person and I want to push Tuareg music far,” he says.Ī long time coming, “Ilana” is Mdou's first true studio album with a live band. Without a band present, he played every instrument on the record. Finally, in 2017, he created a solo folk album, “Sousoume Tamachek,” a mellow blissed out recording evoking the calm desert soundscape. Then he shifted gears, producing and starring the first Tuareg language film, a remake of Prince's Purple Rain (“Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in it”). The album became a viral hit on the mp3 networks of West Africa, and was later released on the compilation “Music from Saharan Cellphones.” In 2013, he released “Afelan,” compiled from field recordings of his performances recorded in his village. In 2008, Mdou traveled to Nigeria to record his debut album of spacey autotune, drum machine, and synthesizer. In a surprising turn, his songs began to win over local religious leaders with their lyrics of respect, honor, and tradition. His immediately became a star amongst the village youth. It was years before he found a “real” guitar and taught himself to play in secret. Growing up in an area where secular music was all but prohibited, he taught himself to play on a homemade guitar cobbled together out of wood. Mdou Moctar hails from a small village in central Niger in a remote region steeped in religious tradition. Mdou shreds with a relentless and frenetic energy that puts his contemporaries to shame. In the exterior, where Saharan rock has become one of the continents biggest musical exports, he's earned a name for himself with his guitar moves. Back home, he's celebrated for his original compositions and verbose poetry, an original creator in a genre defined by cover bands. His unconventional interpretations of Tuareg guitar and have pushed him to the forefront of a crowded scene. Mdou Moctar immediately stands out as one of the most innovative artists in contemporary Saharan music.
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