Album Review: Etran Finatawa - The Sahara Sessions

There's something in the texture of the guitar, the desert twang, the repetitive riffs and sparse percussion that connotes not only a sense of wide open space but also struggle. It's music that first came to consciousness in the west via Mali's Touareg renegades Tinariwen, whose electric guitars unleashed the toil and frustration of the disaffected in Sub-Saharan Africa. With a continuing tenuous political situation, where in the north rebels have imposed Sharia law, the very act of making music in Mali these days is fraught with danger. Few places are as qualified to sing the blues as those in this region.

Over the border in Niger, Etran Finatawa brings together the Touareg and Wodaabe tribes. Traditionally they've been at odds with each other, however, within this band over the course of four albums they've fused traditions and created incredible music.

You can hear the Touareg sounds here, the links to Tinariwen, both in vocal phrasing and of course those incredible guitar riffs that sound like nothing else in the world. It's so distinctive that just by hearing the guitar, acoustic in this case, you can pinpoint its origin. The percussion too is traditional: the calabash – which is a drum floating in water – and the tende. It's blues music all right, but blues with a groove.

For The Sahara Sessions they set up in the desert, built a tent, imported Colin Bass from the UK to produce and invited their friends around. Traditions mix with improvisations and spur of the moment opportunities. There's the captivating polyphonic chorus of the Wodaabe, kids drop by, there's lots of handclaps and a real jamming atmosphere. The music is of course amazing, affirming, spiritual and beautiful – music with both a soul and a social consciousness.