Mdou Moctar: Guitar Trio from Niger

Mdou Moctar and his trio play traditional music of Niger.
Speaker Biography: Mdou Moctar is a Tuareg guitarist from a small village in the Azawagh desert of Niger. He plays in the tradition of desert guitar popularized by groups like Tinariwen and Bombino, but adds his own personal touches to the genre. His music is rooted in tradition, with polyrhythms borrowed from the traditional guitar-and-calabash style called "takamba" and lyrics sung in the style of old nomadic poets. His guitar playing is nonetheless wild and unrelenting, showing the influence of global pop. Coming from a remote region steeped in religious tradition where guitar music was all but prohibited, he taught himself to play on a homemade guitar cobbled together out of planks of wood. Teaching himself in secret, and eventually finding a "real" guitar, he became a local celebrity among the village youth, and went on to become an international recording artist. In 2015, he co-wrote and starred in the first ever Tuareg language film, a Saharan remake of Prince's "Purple Rain."
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