Amadjar

The decision to work these songs out while camped out next to a mobile recording truck shifts the instrumental balance; the bass is less mobile, handclaps and choppy rhythm guitar set the cadence and overall things move a little slower. And Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who sings over half the songs, has never sounded more world-weary. ... But deep blue sentiments touch deeply, and Tinariwen’s music still has that reach.

Tinariwen's music has a beating heart to it and a genius for connecting the group's specific experiences to a broader audience. No one puts the soul of the Sahara into music so intimately and ingeniously as Tinariwen, and Amadjar is a particularly well-polished jewel.

An almost biblical journey to freedom, Tinariwen have inspired compatriots from Tamikrest to Bombino, artists that encapsulate the struggle of a people, taking it to the world through music that truly brings people together.

Never resorting to cliche, they continue to be just as inspired by the universal themes of love, politics and nature as they always have been. Their musical delivery is just as heartfelt and forceful for it.

This whole album is a desert rock classic. [Oct 2019, p.82]

Tinariwen's most intoxicating record yet. [Oct 2019, p.113]

There is zero sense on Amadjar that this band in any way playing to an international audience; on the contrary, this music feels hermetic in its focus, guitars picking out bluesy motifs, voices rising together in mournful chorus, all tethered by a simple drum rhythm that approximates the lollop of a camel making its way across the dunes. [Oct 2019, p.32]