Who are Tamikrest, the band that ex-Tinariwen manager und world music guru Andrew Morgan praised as being “…the definite future of Tuareg music”

The young men and women are from Kidal in Mali and visited the school in Tinzaouweten. Their childhood and youth is shaped by the Tuareg riots that evolved into a civil war between 1990 and 1995. Many of their friends and family were killed during that time.

Tamikrest decided to play with guitars instead of Kalashnikows. Their goal was to improve their lives by letting the world know about their desperate situation through their music.

The lyrics deal with the situation of the Tuaregs, about a youth without future, the loss of their culture — but also about love: the love of life and the love for the vast expanse of their home the Sahara.

In their youth they played the traditional songs of the Kel Tamashek (as they call themselves) or the revolutionary tunes of Tinariwen. Only later on, when musicassettes were swapped and the internet arrived in Africa, they found new musical heroes like Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler, Pink Floyd or Bob Marley that influenced their songs and sound.

On their latest album Toumastin all these influences are merged into a completely new musical style. The hypnotic traditional drumming is pushing the psychelic wah wah-guitars while the mantra-like chants are floating on keyboards or a lonely violin to create the yearning Tuaregblues.

Tamikrest are fighting for a better world. They are ambassadors of the Tuareg culture and deeply rooted in their tradition. Chris Eckman, musician and producer, says appropriately: “Wherever they are, they carry the desert with them.”

The word Tamikrest means junction, alliance, future — with their gentle and inoffensive character Tamikrest are the best example in the quest for freedom and peace as well as an asset in the intercontinental cultural exchange.

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