Tamikrest – Tamotaït
Glitterbeat -27 March 2020
Tamikrest are a band in exile. For most of the last ten years, they have been unable to live in their Kidal, Mali homes because of regional conflicts. Instead, they live in Tamanrasset, Algeria; Paris and from time to time, along the desolate borderlands of Algeria and Mali. Despite these circumstances, the existence of Tamotaït is, in a very real sense, also a battle cry. The word tamotaït means hope for positive change, and there is much that needs changing.
Founded by Ag Mossa and Cheick Ag Tiglia during the riots of 2006, initially, they played traditional music along with the songs of the Tuareg band, Tinariwen. Situations change, and as a result, so does the music. According to singer and percussionist Aghaly Ag Mohamedine, As Sastnan Hidjan is about a revolution, “A revolution in the Tamasheq culture. We want to fight for our culture and tradition. We are not taking the oppression for granted. We stand and we fight.”
The music of Tamikrest is assouf, music forged in change, and the obvious change is a chance to live in Azawad, a nation that existed only for a brief moment in 2012. The twin guitars of Ag Mossa and Paul Salvagnac lead the charge, first with warmth on Amzagh, then with far more churning insistence on As Sastnan Hidjan. These songs examine the possibilities that lie ahead for the Kel Tamasheq people.
Any band that has been forced from their homeland must be political, yet they are also aware of beauty. Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra had improvised with the band at concerts, and when it came time to record Tamotaït, she seemed like an obvious choice.
As Ag Mossa recounts, “She has a remarkable voice and she’s a very good improviser. It seemed natural to us for her to sing on the album. We recorded without any rehearsal, and the first take was the right one.” The track in question, Timtarin, aches with a gentle beauty.
While this is a band that can play with gentleness and restraint, they can also play with unbridled abandon. When the percussion of Ag Mohamedine, Ag Tiglia’s bass and the drums of Nicholas Grupp kick in on Anha Achal Wad Namda, the band rocks with a sense of fury, it’s three minutes and thirty-seven seconds of pure bliss.
Rather than being defined in by African music, or protest music, Tamikrest is a band that expands those vocabularies. Tamotaït not only enlarges the world we know, it also pushes us closer, illustrating a path to what music can become.
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Alongside Majid Bekkas, The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band, iyatraQuartet, Xylouris White and many more, you can hear Tamikrest in our Lost in Transmission Show Episode 54 here.