Abdallah Oumbadougou
★★★★
Amghar: The Godfather Of Tuareg Music Vol. 1
PETALUMA. DL/LP
Compilation of music by the man who introduced the blues to Niger.
At the same time as Tinariwen were developing Tuareg guitar music as the sound of rebellion in Mali, Oumbadougou’s band, Takrist Nakal, were playing a complementary role in Niger, where an authoritarian government schemed to eliminate nomads entirely and uranium mining encroached on their land. Seemingly less enthusiastic than other musicians about being a poster boy for insurgency (at one point he was arrested when it was his brother who had upset the authorities), Oumbadougou released five albums between 1995’s Anou Malan (reissued by Sahel Sounds in 2019) and 2012’s Zozodinga, managing to sound at various points like each of Tinariwen’s distinctive vocalists. The music itself is faster and features more technical flourishes and a bit less groove than the Malians – as recently taken to extremes by self-confessed fans Bombino and Mdou Moctar – but is no less hypnotic for all that.