THEY HAVE been described by The Guardian as "the best African band in the world". Live, they have played support to The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Their musical scope is such that in a recent interview Chris Martin said Tinariwen was a "great influence" on Coldplay's new album Viva La Vida.

They are Tinariwen and they play the Festival Big Top on Tuesday July 22 at 7.30pm (with Mayra Andrade) as part of the Galway Arts Festival.

Listening to Tinariwen feels like entering into a secret society. Friends will place The Radio Tisdas Sessions, Ammassakoul, or Aman Iman albums in your hands accompanied by the words 'You have to listen to this - it's amazing!' With 11 members and a strong emphasis on percussion and vocal harmony, Tinariwen's music is communal and rebellious and strikes a chord with many people.

The band was formed in Gaddafi's Tuareg rebel camps in Mali in 1982 and the lyrical subjects cover independence from the Mali government and the preservation of their nomadic heritage. Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni first heard Tinariwen's rebellious music on tape around this time and it was to have a profound effect on him.

"Their songs were very important" he tells me through an interpreter. Their message was like an alarm call for us young Touareg men. We had no other means of knowing or understanding what was going on in the desert, if it wasn't through Tinariwen's songs... (full article)