In 2012, armed extremists seized the Malian northern town of Kidal, instituted a strict ban on music, and destroyed the guitars of Amanar de Kidal‘s bandleader and main songwriter Ahmed Ag Kaedy. Kaedy fled south to the capital city of Bamako, leaving behind a home territory fractured by separatist rebels, government forces, and jihadist factions. The single “Aljahalat” emerged from this long southern exile, serving as the first taste of the band’s upcoming album Kel Tamasheq.

Instead of falling back on the slow, mournful tempos of traditional desert blues, Kaedy gathered musicians from different ethnic communities across Mali to build something fast and defiant. The record runs on assouf, the electric Tuareg guitar style Tinariwen carried out of the Sahara, driving interlocking lead and rhythm lines, bass, drums, and a responsive backing choir into a tight, urgent groove. The collective arrangement mirrors the literal translation of the album title, “Tuareg People”, behaving as a musical assembly for a population pulled apart by war.

Kaedy laid out the stakes behind the recording plainly: “Among the Tuareg, some are with Mali, some are with the rebels, some are with the Jihadists. The spirit of this song and our forthcoming album is to say: our misfortune is the source of our division.”

The album comes out through three independent labels working together: Sahel Sounds in Portland, Sing a Song Fighter in Stockholm, and Ultraääni Records in Tampere.

Listen to “Aljahalat” HERE and pre-order Kel Tamasheq through THIS LINK