Warm Wednesday XIII

I need some warm music because the temperature in my region is dropped below zero. Some warm african guitars will do, maybe some nomads too and that's exactly what Tinariwen can offer us.

Tinariwen (meaning desert) is a band of Tuareg-Berber musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed around 1979 in refugee camps in Libya but returned to Mali after a cease-fire in the 1990s. The group first started to gain a following outside the Sahara region in 2001, with the release of The Radio Tisdas Sessions, the performances at Festival au Désert in Mali and at the Roskilde festival in Denmark. Their popularity rose internationally with the release of the critically acclaimed Aman Iman in 2007. First let's take a look at them playing at the NPR tiny desk session When making this item Mali and the band are having hard times, French and Malian troops are fighting Islamist Rebels. After large parts of Northern Mali were captured by Ansar Dine. Last week Bandmember Abdallah Ag Lamida was arrested by the Islamist authority (January 2013). In August 2012, an Ansar Dine spokesman announced: “We do not want Satan’s music. In its place will be Quranic verses. Sharia demands this. What God commands must be done.” .....Pffff this is so tiring, why can't people respect eachother. Do you think that a God would bother what music we make? So respect for Tinariwen, hope they keep on making good music and that they won't let themselves being silenced by bashfull people. Here's a warm and beautiful video of the song "Ishweg Attay"of the most recent album Tassili (2011). Here is a soundcloud link to some older work

Warm Wednesday III

Today we have a duo that caused me a lot of goosebumps the first time I heard them. "The Milk Carton Kids"

This is a perfect candidate for the warm wednesday issue. The Milk Carton Kids (after the missing kids portraits printed on milk cartons)are Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan from Los Angeles, California (warmth enough there). They were formed in early 2011 and almost imediatly caused a buzz in the folk scene and picked up by the NPR (National Public radio). That's were I heard them first at the 15 minute Tiny desk concerts performing their songs "Michigan" (my favourite) "Stealing Romance" and "I Still Want A Little More". The interweaving of their voices and guitars is done delicate and they harmonize perfectly. The songs (mostly ballads)with a country twist are very easy and comfortable, perfect for long drives through boring landscapes. Style? Think the offspring of Simon and Garfunkel made love with Emmylou Harris with Jayhawks on the radio. (sorry for this image). Did I mention you can download their Ep's, "Prologue" and "Retrospect" for free at their site?