Peace to You: Bombino and "Assalam Felawan"

Singer-songwriter Bombino, the acclaimed guitarist from Niger, brings us our random tune. He sings in the Tuareg Tamashek language and addresses political concerns of the Tuareg in his songs. Bombino taught himself to play guitar as a child in a refugee encampment in Algeria after his family had to flee Niger due to a Tuareg rebellion in 1990. While spending his teen years in exile in Algeria and Libya, he watched videos of Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler and other guitarists to learn their styles. In 1997 he returned to Niger and began his life as professional musician, but had to flee again in 2007 after another Tuareg rebellion erupted. The government banned guitars to the Tuareg, fearing them as a political weapon but Bombino declared that his guitar was not a gun, but a hammer with which to build a house of the Tuareg people. While Bombino was in exile in Burkina Faso, filmmaker Ron Wyman heard cassettes of his playing and found him, and produced Bombino's chart-topping world album Agadez. Bombino returned to Niger again in 2010, and he is the subject of the film Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion. This song, Assalam Felawan (Peace to You), is from Bombino's 2011 album Agadez. The song is a thanks to the Tuareg people for nurturing their children in a time of crisis, as well as a plea for peace.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombino_(musician); http://www.bombinomusic.com/

Finding Patience: Bombino and "Zigzan"

Our random tune today is performed by Bombino, a singer-songwriter and acclaimed guitarist from Niger. He sings in the Tuareg Tamashek language and addresses political concerns of the Tuareg in his songs. Bombino taught himself to play guitar as a child in a refugee encampment in Algeria after his family had to flee Niger due to a Tuareg rebellion in 1990. While spending his teen years in exile in Algeria and Libya, he watched videos of Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler and other guitarists to learn their styles. In 1997 he returned to Niger and began his life as professional musician, but had to flee again in 2007 after another Tuareg rebellion erupted. The government banned guitars to the Tuareg, fearing them as a political weapon but Bombino declared that his guitar was not a gun, but a hammer with which to build a house of the Tuareg people. While Bombino was in exile in Burkina Faso, filmmaker Ron Wyman heard cassettes of his playing and found him, and produced Bombino's chart-topping world album Agadez. Bombino returned to Niger again in 2010, and he is the subject of the film Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion. This song, Zigzan, is from Bombino's 2013 album Nomad. The song is about finding patience in a difficult world.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Togetherness: Bombino and "Tigrawahi Tikma (Bring Us Together)"

Today's song is by Omar "Bombino" Moctar, who usually goes by his stage name of Bombino. An acclaimed Tuareg guitarist from Niger, he sings in Tamashek and his music usually addresses Tuareg political concerns. Bombino taught himself to play guitar while living in exile in Algeria during the Tuareg Rebellion in 1990. He later studied with Tuareg guitarist Haja Bebe, who asked him to join his band and gave him the nickname Bombino, which is a version of the Italian "bambino" or little boy. Bombino soaked in videos of Jimi Hendrix and Mark Knopfler to learn their styles while working as a sheepherder and musician near Tripoli, Libya as a teen, and he also spent time living in Burkino Faso where he came to the attention of filmmaker Ron Wyman, who encouraged him to record a proper album. Bombino returned to Niger in 2010 and recorded his debut album there. The success of the album gained him attention from other musicians such as Robert Plant, Amadou & Mariam and Gogol Bordello, and his second album was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. This song, Tigrawahi Tikma (Bring Us Together) is from his 2011 debut album Agadez.

He's the Bomb: Bombino and "Zigzan"

Not long, maybe a year, after I first heard the Tuareg group Tinariwen and was blown away by their song Tenhert, I heard Bombino. He showed up at Albuquerque's Globalquerque World Music Festival and played both evenings of the festival, one on the main stage and the other on a smaller, more intimate stage. He was fantastic - especially on the smaller stage where he kept people dancing for his entire set. The only thing I knew, previous to my exposure to him and to Tinariwen, was that the name Tuareg was used as the name for a car line. After Tinariwen and Bombino, I thought I knew the birthplace of electric blues. It wasn't Chicago, it was the deserts of Africa. Tinariwen would dispute that - they claim that they never heard the blues before they toured the United States - but given how musical styles have traveled from Africa to other places on the globe, and especially African musical contributions to the musical legacy of the United States, who really knows. All I know is that I like what I hear.

Bombino is a singer-songwriter and acclaimed guitarist from Niger. He sings in the Tuareg Timashek language and addresses political concerns of the Tuareg in his songs. Bombino taught himself to play guitar as a child in a refugee encampment in Algeria after his family had to flee Niger due to a Tuareg rebellion in 1990. While spending his teen years in exile in Algeria and Libya, he watched videos of Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler and other guitarists to learn their styles. In 1997 he returned to Niger and began his life as professional musician, but had to flee again in 2007 after another Tuareg rebellion erupted. The government banned guitars to the Tuareg, fearing them as a political weapon but Bombino declared that his guitar was not a gun, but a hammer with which to build a house of the Tuareg people. While Bombino was in exile in Burkina Faso, filmmaker Ron Wyman heard cassettes of his playing and found him, and produced Bombino's chart-topping world album Agadez. Bombino returned to Niger again in 2010, and he is the subject of the film Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion. This song, Zigzan, is from Bombino's 2013 album Nomad.