24 Albums of December - TINARIWEN - Amadjar

How on earth are we supposed to select 24 albums representative of Fascinating Rhythm’s 2019? Trust us that it’s an unenviable task, but we’ve given it a good ol’ go. In my opinion this year has been a vintage one for music, so in truth we’d could have picked 100 or even 200 great records all worthy of inclusion. For example, we didn’t include releases by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Lizzo, Deerhunter, Steve Gunn, The National, black midi or Sacred Paws – whose 2019 album I’m still obsessed with. So, there’s a LOT of great stuff we didn’t include, but we’ve done our best to present a span of selections from every area of the store, including some great local and wider Canadian releases. Between now and Christmas Eve, we hope you enjoy the tracks we’ve put together for you.

For all your music needs, go to Fascinating Rhythm, located in downtown Nanaimo.

16/ TINARIWEN – Amadjar

A couple of years back I had the privilege of seeing the incredible Tinariwen perform at Vancouver’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts; it was an evening unlike I’d ever previously experienced, and will live with me forever. More of a collective than a band per se, with a fluid personnel revolving around a few key figures, Tinariwen trades in so-called ‘desert blues,’ a hypnotic and truly beautiful sound concerning which this nomadic, Mali-based Tuareg outfit are undoubtedly the most internationally known. Although initially forming 40 years ago, in part due to the championing of such as Robert Plant their first internationally distributed album, The Radio Tisdas Sessions, finally appeared in 2001, since when they’ve gone on to release a further seven studio albums and a live collection, all excellent. The latest is Amadjar, translating as ‘The Foreign Traveller,’ and taken from it here’s the amazing penultimate track, Wartilla.

Dave Morrison
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