Sublime Frequencies presents a CD reissue of a limited edition vinyl by this Tuareg rock group featuring the enigmatic guitar hero Bibi Ahmed. The group brings to its hybrid of roots rock, Afrobeat and plugged-in fuzz rock a political urgency, the music having its origin as a political weapon used to communicate from Libyan refugee camps within the Republic of Niger in the 1980s and '90s.
Even without the background of political and social unrest that informs Tuareg guitar rock, the music here would be fascinating and well worth anyone's time. The sound is both tense and celebratory, a fertile combination of Arabic music, Afrobeat and Western rock tropes, with elements familiar from the Ethiopiques group of artists, but with a distinct rhythmic chug all its own. The lyrics are sung in the language of Tamacheq, spoken by the nomadic desert people known as the Tuareg, a distinct ethnic minority that have traditionally gotten short shrift in colonial disputes, and were forced into refugee camps in Niger and Mali. The unique elements of Tuareg culture could fill a small volume, but suffice to say that their distinct cultural heritage informs their unique blend of influences, creating an ethnic music quite unlike anything I've ever heard before. Urgent, shuffling dance rhythms form a backdrop for funky, rootsy electric guitar runs, with male group vocals occasionally punctuated by the shrill ululations of female singers.
The sound is social, and the recordings here are refreshingly human, capturing the sound of the room in which they were recorded, full of people engaged in musical celebration and communication. Hisham Mayet, a name that is frequently seen on Sublime Frequencies releases, handles the recording here. Mayet acts more as a field recorder than a music engineer, simply hitting record and staying out of the way. Though all of the tracks (except for the first, which is from the Group Inerane archives) are recorded in crisp stereo, there is still a warmth to the proceedings, mostly because the group themselves are loosely mic'd, and the sounds of amplifier distortion are allowed to remain.
Although the liner notes offer nothing in the way of translations of the Tamacheq lyrics, they do offer compelling background information on the Tuareg and the rebellions and political disputes that caused their marginalization. The guitar rock made by Group Inerane has its origins in North Saharan rebel music, with incendiary political lyrics railing against the governments of Niger and Mali. During the 1980s and '90s, this music was recorded onto cassettes and distributed throughout refugee camps as a way of disseminating the message of the Tuareg resistance. Now that a peace accord has been reached between the Tuareg rebels and the governments of Niger and Mali, music that was once banned is now quite popular. After hearing this story, I couldn't help but wish that instead of a recording of a modern group, Sublime Frequencies had instead attempted to reissue some of the old underground rebel cassettes. Whatever fidelity might have been lost would surely have been made up for with authenticity.
But it's best to focus on what is on the album, rather than what isn't. What Group Inerane present is a collection of ten great songs, many of them based on originals by Abdallah Oumbadougou, Bibi Ahmed's mentor. If I had not been told that many of these songs reflect the tragic destiny of a whole generation of Tuareg, I might never have guessed, as most of these tracks are upbeat, energetic and jubilant. The rhythms are similar to what one might expect from Afrobeat, but quite a bit simpler, lacking complex polyrhythms, no doubt because of the presence of only one drummer, rather than a group. The dual fuzz guitar attacks are unique, a kind of extra-geographical style that takes in Western rock n' roll, jazz, funk and Arabic modes and spits out something utterly singular. The quartet of female singers frequently reach a hair-raising chorus of glossolalic ululations that could be taken either as a funereal shriek or an ecstatic outpouring of positivity.
This is another classy release for Sublime Frequencies, highlighting a genre of music that is very likely unfamiliar to all but the most adventurous of world music listeners. The liner notes and press material persist in calling the music here "psychedelic," a term which I object to because I'm sure whatever mind-expanding qualities the music may possess are mostly the result of its exociticism. Were we familiar with the Tuareg cultural heritage, the music might not sound strange or unorthodox at all. For all we know, Group Inerane is the Aerosmith of Tuareg guitar music.
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