Copenhagen Jazz Festival: Tinariwen

From the dunes of the Sahara, to the city of Copenhagen – blues knows no bounds.

Music under the stars

The desert is a place of hardship and subtle beauty, a stark world that reveals its secrets slowly and carefully.

Life in the desert is resilient and strong, and the people are gentle giants among the sand, storms, and sun.

For Saharan blues band Tinariwen, the desert is their home, and their hypnotic and electrifying guitar rock reflects complex realities of their Homebase in North West Africa.

Descended from nomadic people who have wandered the dunes for millennia, the music of Tinariwen travels too, reverberating far from dusty plains of Mali.

Their 2011 album Tassili, was even recorded in the Algerian desert, in a tent and under the stars.

In the late 1990s, they were discovered by Western musicians and for the first time, the nomads now travel the world, performing at nearly every notable festival and venue.

Global influence

The group’s latest offering, Emmar, is a richly layered listen solidified by atmospheric textures and gritty guitar-work.

Along with the original members who founded the group in the 1980s (vocalists and guitarists Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, and Alhassane Ag Touhami) and the younger generation who grew up listening to the band and joined in the 1990s (multi-instrumentalist Eyadou Ag Leche, guitarist Elaga Ag Hamid, and percussionist Said Ag Ayad), a group of American musicians appear on the album.

The album is also accompanied by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, Matt Sweeney from Chavez, Nashville fiddler Fats Kaplin, and poet Saul Williams.


Venue: DR Koncerthuset, Koncertsalen

Date: Wednesday July 9

Time: 20:00

Ticket price: 220-280 DKK




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