ETRAN DE L’AÏR

NIGER

PERFORMANCES

The desert sound of Etran de L’Aïr, a family band made up of brothers and cousins, is rooted in celebration. Their style of guitar playing is an integral part of the social fabric of the Tuareg people, and is played at weddings, baptisms and political rallies. These Tuareg guitarists from Agadez (the gateway to the Sahara Desert) play in a pan-African style that is emblematic of their hometown, citing a myriad of cultural influences, from Northern Malian blues and Hausa bar bands to Congolese Soukous. Their music invokes the exuberance of an Agadez wedding, with an overwhelming abundance of guitar solos that playfully pass over one another with restrained precision – forceful, yet never indulgent. The band formed in 1995 when current band leader Moussa ‘Abindi’ Ibra was only nine years old, with only one acoustic guitar, using calabash fruit and a sandal for percussion. Twenty-five years later, they are stars of the Agadez guitar scene and beloved for their dynamic repertoire of hypnotic melodies. 

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