Last winter, bassist Mikey Coltun travelled to Niamey, Niger to join his bandmates – Mdou Moctar, Ahmoudou Madassane, and Souleymane Ibrahim to prepare for the release of the group’s Matador Records debut Afrique Victime in June.
During that period, the following film: Mdou Moctar: Live at the Niger River was filmed at dawn beside a campfire and a pot of Tuareg tea, the set captures stripped-down generator-powered performances of the songs ‘Tala Tannam’, ‘Bissmilahi Atagh’, ‘Ya Habibti’, and ‘Chismiten’ all of which are taken from Afrique Victime which features poetic meditations on love, religion, women’s rights, inequality, and Western Africa’s exploitation at the hands of colonial powers.
From Mikey Coltun:
Before it was decided that it was too unsafe for us to travel together outside the Niger capital, Niamey, we were planning to do concerts in villages throughout Niger, all with beautiful scenery. When Ahmoudou and I spent some time together at the beginning of the trip, we went location scouting in Niamey to see how we can achieve something similar while staying around the capital.
A friend of ours had taken us to a place on the outskirts of Niamey, “In the bush”. This land was right on the Niger River: a river flowing through Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. Brainstorming different locations for filming, we came up with the idea to film a few songs at this location as the sun was coming up one morning.
On the night before I departed Niger, we played a late concert, loaded everything into Mdou’s car, packed in there all together, and dropped off the gear to the location about 30 minutes away. Mdou decided to sleep on location with the gear so none of it gets stolen. The rest of us woke up the next morning at 4am, got into the car, picked up breakfast at a bakery, and drove to the location.
We set up quickly as we didn’t want to lose filming the sun coming up. We made a fire to keep us warm and also to keep the Tuareg tea brewing while we played. As we started playing “Tala Tannam” the sun came up and the two-coloured Saharan bird, the pied crow, the symbol for Mdou Moctar, flew above us. Midway through the session we were greeted by a pack of goats coming towards us from who knows where. They stopped and listened for a bit. Totally spontaneous, as things usually are for the Mdou Moctar group. This session proved to be one of the most beautiful performances we’ve played together.
Moctar was recently seen wowing US audiences throughout the band’s nearly entirely sold out North American tour dates. The band will be touching down in the UK and Europe in spring 2022.
MDOU MOCTAR 2022 UK & EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
01 April – Het Bos @ Antwerpen (B)
02 April – AB-club @ Brussels (B)
03 April – Bumann @ Köln (D)
04 April – Paradiso @ Amsterdam (NL) SOLD OUT
05 April – Effenaar @ Eindhoven (NL)
06 April – Komedia @ Brighton (UK)
07 April – Hare & Hounds @ Birmingham (UK)
08 April – The Sugar Club @ Dublin (EIR)
09 April – Ulster Sports Club @ Belfast (UK)
10 April – Drygate @ Glasgow (UK)
11 April – The Brudenell Social Club @ Leeds (UK)
12 April – YES @ Manchester (UK)
14 April – Earth Theatre @ London (UK)
15 April – La cave aux Poètes @ Roubaix/Lille (F)
16 April – Le Hasard Ludique @ Paris (F)
17 April – Doornroosje @ Nijmegen (NL)
18 April – Molotow @ Hamburg (D)
19 April – Alice @ Copenhagen (DK)
20 April – Nefertiti @ Gothenburg (S)
21 April – Blaa @ Oslo (N)
22 April – Fasching @ Stockholm (S)
23 April – Plan B @ Malmö (S)
24 April – Frannz Club @ Berlin (D)
25 April – UT Connewitz @ Leipzig (D)
26 April – Meetfactory @ Prague (CZ)
27 April – Kapu @ Linz (A)
28 April – Rote Fabrik @ Zurich (CH)
29 April – Feuerwache – Mannheim (D)
01 May – De Post @ Oostende (B)
06 Auggust – Off Festival @ Mysłowice (PL)