Moving to the Sahara for some Tuareg guitar
As you can probably tell from the cover, this comes from a creative remake of Purple Rain, detailing Mdou Moctar’s rise to fame
Grew up in mining towns in Niger
In strict muslim household where rock music was as off-limits as drugs and liquor
But after hearing a traveling musician playing to a small crowd when he was a pre-teen, he fashioned his own guitar out of spare bike parts
He eventually became known via a network of traded cellphone clips
And was sought out by a Portland stereotype white boy, who went on to found “Sahel Sounds”
The Purple Rain thing was his idea
This “desert blues” combines nomadic folk with supercharged electronics
The Portlandia character, Christopher Kirkley, eventually caught up to the non-internet sensation and won him over by gifting him an appropriate guitar for the left-handed Moctar
Which he still uses
If you wanna hear him really shred, check Tarhatazed from Ilana, his first full studio album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhqk3bHmnk0
Just complete insanity
Tuareg guitar was apparently forged in exile in Libya, and often with a political bent
Moctar now tours, and speaks out against French neo-colonialism in west africa
Here’s a cool video of Mdou inspiring the next generation, just as the traveling musician did for him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHie4ZrewNc
Playing that left-handed guitar
