Mdou Moctar

An ambassador of Tuareg music, Saharan singer-songwriter Mdou Moctar is back with a new LP called “Ilana”, or “The Creator”.

His latest full-length – a follow-up to “Sousoume Tamachek“, and a record he reportedly considers his real studio album – will come out at the end of March via the invaluable label Sahel Sounds. But you can already have a first taste off the album, a song called “Wiwasharnine”.

The album was recorded in Detroit with a number of acclaimed musicians. And guessing from this first single, it has a much more expansive sound than anything we’ve heard earlier from Mdou Moctar. There’s more space and more energy, but Moctar’s hymn-like melodies are still there.

“Wiwasharnine” has a strongly psychedelic ambience as well in it, and that only adds to Touareg music’s default mesmerizing effect.

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