Tamikrest return with a new album ‘Tamotaït’, a vivid, irrepressible rock and roll statement, due out 27 March on Glitterbeat. Their most powerful album since 2013’s wildly acclaimed ‘Chatma’, ‘Tamotaït’ finds the band not only turning up the volume, but also sharpening their meditative atmospherics and ruminations on the state of the Sahara and the world beyond. The album features acclaimed Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra as a special guest and a track cut with Japanese traditional musicians.
Tamotaït
Sometimes music is more than the notes played or the words sung. Sometimes it’s a spirit that catches fire and burns with a dangerous, dazzling flame. On ‘Tamotaït’, Tamikrest’s fifth studio album, the music blazes bright and long. With the political situation so volatile and desperate in the Saharan ancestral lands from which Tamikrest come (for much of the last decade the band’s founding members have lived in Tamanrasset, Paris and at times along the desolate Algerian/Malian borderlands), this is more than an album. This is resistance. But in there, too, is the dream of the future. “The definition of the album is there in its title,” explains singer, guitarist and songwriter Ousmane Ag Mossa. “Tamotaït means hope for a positive change.”
A decade into their acclaimed career, Tamikrest have become one of the best rock’n’roll bands in the world. That’s a big title to carry. But ‘Tamotaït' proves they’re worthy of it. This album is what rock’n’roll can be, what all music can be. Music as a weapon of hope. Songs as a vessel of truth.
“Awnafin”, the first single taken from the album, was released 7 February.
Tamikrest
Tamikrest
“Awnafin” translated lyrics:
My dearest wish is to see the day.
That day when my people will be united.
My dearest wish is to see this desired flag raised
that will unite all the people of Kel tamasheq.
All for unity.
Making Kidal the capital.
My dearest wish is to see that day.
That day when my people will be united.