TAMIKREST

"Tamikrest" in the Tamasheq language means junction, connection, knot, coalition. The group members come from different horizons (Mali, Niger, Algeria and France). Wanting to fully assume their Tuareg identity, they found the means to express it in the rebel music Ishumar. “A desert hosts us, a language unites us, a culture binds us.”

The story begins at Kidal (capital of the eighth region of Mali) while making tea, of course. Pino, Cheikh and Mossa had just finished a guitar workshop with Juhan Ecaré (guitarist for Meiway) when they decided to form a group with only two old ‘homemade’ guitars. And they got to work… “Even though we are young, guitars still have six chords!”

After one and a half years of hard work, the group is complete and their repertory has grown to contain more than twenty-five original compositions. Though their music takes root in Ishumar Rock or Tuareg Blues, it borrows from various international influences as well as from neighboring cultures. Through the message of their songs, Tamikrest want to make Tamasheq poetry and culture accessible to inhabitants of a world larger than the immensity of the Sahara Desert.

“Tamikrest play a smoldering desert blues full of passion that articulates anger at the treatment of their nomadic people....They have found a style that works and are gently refining it.” - The Times (UK)

“Growly vocals and electric guitar characterise the sound. But Tamikrest have a more psychedelic tinge [than Tinariwen]....There’s a genuine intensity behind this music.” - Evening Standard (UK)

"A huge leap forward...With trance-inducing drones, Nashville-evoking steel guitars and space-rock solos, this is the desert blues album for fans of Can and Pink Floyd to sink their teeth into." - Mojo