New Video: Tinariwen Shares Urgent “Erghad Afewo”

Pioneering Grammy Award-winning, Tuareg musical pioneers and JOVM mainstays Tinariwen released their tenth studio album Hoggar last week through their own label, Wedge. The album derives its name from the Hoggar mountains, a defiant marker of presence visible for miles and a symbol of a homeland for their displaced people. 

Long known for being fierce advocates for their people’s nomadic culture that exists in the desert borderlands between Mail and Algeria, the acclaimed JOVM mainstays bluesy, guitar-driven music has found global acclaim for its blend of dexterous, Western rock-styled guitar work, Tamasheq language-driven political bent, syncopated rhythms and soaring melodies. 

More than 45 years into their lengthy and storied career, Hoggar reportedly sees the acclaimed masters of the desert blues returning to the foundations of their sound with the band returning to their early years of songwriting with acoustic guitars and communal singing around the desert campfire. The album also sees the band staking their claim as elders of the Tuareg musical tradition while also proudly passing the torch onto a younger generation of featured musicians, who can continue to keep their culture’s flame of rebellion and defiance alive. 

Legendarily known for recording amid the windswept expanse of the Central Saharan desert, the acclaimed JOVM mainstays have long drawn inspiration from the rhythms of nature. With political unrest in Mali prompting the band to seek new spaces, the founding members, who are now based in Algeria recorded the album in studio set up by young Tuareg band and mentees Imarhan in Tamanrasset, which continues their legacy of innovation and collaboration. 

While previously released albums like 2023’s Amatssou saw Tinariwen collaborating with acclaimed producer Daniel Lanois, on Hoggar the band looked closer to home. Gathering with the local Tuareg musical community for a month, founding members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni and Touhami Ag Alhassane began writing songs fueled by political unrest alongside young artists like Imarhan’s Iyad Moussa Ben Abderrahmane, Hicham Bouhasse  and Haiballah Akhamouk. The band also collaborated with Terekaft‘s Sanou Ag Hamed and Tinariwen co-founder Liya ag Abill, a.k.a. Diarra for the first time in 25 years. 

The album also marks some other firsts: The band’s lead vocalist Ibrahim and Abdallah sing together for the first time in over 30 years, breaking their long-held tradition of each songwriting performing only their own compositions. And there’s a guest spot from acclaimed longtime fan José González. 

Lyrically, Hoggar explores urgent and timely themes, addressing the social and political challenges facing the Tuareg people and northern Mali. The band continues their long tradition of bearing witness through their work, balancing the joy of their celebrated lie shows with reflections on community struggles, resilience and the need for cultural preservation. 

The album will include the previously released “Sagherat Assan,” “Imidiwan Takyadam” featuring acclaimed singer/songwriter and longtime fan Jose Gonzalez, “Amidinim Ehaf Solan,” and the album’s fourth and latest single, “Erghad Afewo.”

Anchored around the collective’s gorgeous, effortlessly bluesy guitar work and call and response-driven melodicism, “Erghad Afewo” is an urgent song calling out those who have sold out their people to fill their empty bellies and a little bit of cash and/or provisions while accurately describing an increasingly impending hellscape.

Continuing an ongoing collaboration with director and animator Axel Digoix, the accompanying video is a gorgeously animated visual that captures the pride, defiance and joy of the Tamashek that includes a fearsome night-time chase through the desert.

The band is about to embark on a lengthy European Union and UK tour next month. Sadly, because of the current Trump regime’s travel bans, this upcoming tour does not have any North American shows. “We were excited to bring our music to North America, but due to current travel ban, we won’t be able to perform there as part of this tour,” the band says. “We know this is disappointing, and our team explored every possible option, but it was beyond our control. We look forward to returning to the U.S. as soon as we can and sharing our music with our fans there.” 

As always, tour dates are below.

Tinariwen World Tour

4/10 — Le Tube — Seignosse, FR

4/13 — Casa da Música — Porto, PT

4/14 — Lisboa Ao Vivo — Lisbon, PT

4/16 — Sala But — Madrid, ES

4/17 — La Paloma — Barcelona, ES

4/18 — Paloma — Nîmes, FR

4/20 — Alcatraz — Milan, IT

4/21 — Auditorium Parco della Musica — Rome, IT

4/22 — Hall — Padua, IT

4/24 — Palác Akropolis — Prague, CZ

4/25 — Arena — Vienna, AT

4/26 — Akvárium Klub — Budapest, HU

4/28 — Klub Studio — Krakow, PL

4/29 — Progresja — Warsaw, PL

4/30 — Huxley’s Neue Welt — Berlin, DE

5/5 — Ancienne Belgique — Brussels, BE

5/7 — TivoliVredenburg — Utrecht, NL

5/8 — Cirque d’Hiver — Paris, FR

5/11 — Le MeM — Rennes, FR

5/12 — Le Bikini — Toulouse, FR

5/13 — Rocher de Palmer — Bordeaux, FR

5/15 — Hall 3, NDK — Sofia, BG

5/16 — Floyd — Athens, GR

5/18 — O2 Forum Kentish Town — London, UK

5/19 — The Glasshouse — Gateshead, UK

5/21 — Assembly Rooms — Edinburgh, UK

5/22 — O2 Ritz — Manchester, UK

5/24 — Electric Bristol — Bristol, UK

5/25 — 3Olympia Theatre — Dublin, IE

5/27 — DR Koncerthuset — Copenhagen, DK

5/28 — Rockefeller — Oslo, NO

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