Coachella Day 2: Tinariwen's Sunset Convergence is the Talk of the Festival
Sunday, Apr. 19 2009 @ 11:56AM
By Randall Roberts in coachella

"the band got onto the stage and stepped on the Universal Treadmill of Groove, one that propels booties and brains regardless of language, religion, age or gender. Live, the band is inexplicably great...Maybe it's the rhythms, which don't abide by the western four/four time signature and beat in complicated and pleasing ways. Maybe it's the tones...

Or Tinariwen's awesome hype man, who stood stage right and did some sort of beautiful ghost dance and harmonized along...

Testimonials: Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, onstage during its inaugural Coachella performance, said, "I hope you had a chance to check out Tinariwen." Ian MacKaye founder of Dischord Records, Fugazi, Minor Threat and the Evens, was watching with Henry Rollins and Shepard Fairey. After the show, while Rollins held MacKaye's newborn, Carmine, MacKaye told me the Tinariwen gig was his favorite set of the festival. Ditto. " - (full review)

EAST BAY EXPRESS

"When the six musicians took a bow together and the house lights came on, it was hard not to feel we'd witnessed something special. Tinariwen is at the very least among the finest African groups in the world today -- if not at the very top." (4/16 San Francisco Jazz Fest)

stereogum

"The band's Tishoumaren African gypsy blues drew an impressive crowd, continuing an extended crest for the band on the back of 2007's excellent Aman Iman LP. Their brand of modal melodies...acoustic and electric instruments, and hand drums were a perfect fit for the desert heat." (4/18 Coachella)

"Whether by a master stroke of scheduling or happy accident, the juxtaposition of Afro-Arabic pop group Tinariwen in the Gobi Tent and Tucson-based spaghetti-western rock group Calexico on the Outdoor Theatre stage was one of those connective cultural moments that make...Coachella worth every wearying minute in the wilting desert heat." (4/18 Coachella)