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A Text of Denis Wong
When asked if he is trying to get rid of this comparison with Jimi Hendrix, as Ali Farka Toure tried to do when compared to John Lee Hooker, Niger's self-taught guitarist, prefers to pay tribute to one of his most important influences.
It's an honor to be compared to Jimi. When I watch Jimi play the guitar, when he plays a note, it's as if he touches his heart.
This is where the comparison stops, since Bombino has long built his own identity. Omara Moctar sings in Tamasheq, a Tuareg dialect spoken in the Sahara, and the influence of traditional Tuareg music is recognizable by the rhythm and cadence of his songs.
Deran is the culmination of a series albums that helped give texture to his tuareg blues rock. In the album Nomad produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, sounds of garage rock are invited in the game of Omara Moctar. In Azel the guitarist added a touch of acoustic music and reggae – what he calls "tuareggae" – to his tracks, which made the album less electric than what we were
This fifth album was produced by its manager Eric Herman, which gave a great independence of creation to Bombino. The artist from Agadez allows himself to move from one influence to another while remaining coherent and he lets his guitar weave the thread of the album.
"It's like the end of the university, the end of college, he explains in French. You have to harvest everything you've learned and the album Deran is like my diploma in 2018. Musically, doing what you want is not easy. With this album, we had this great freedom to do what we want.
The contagious and sustained energy of Bombino riffs has always evoked the vastness of the desert, but we feel a homecoming for Omara Moctar, who records for the first time an album in Africa. If this ambassador of Tuareg blues and African music in general has an international reputation today, it was important for him to recharge his batteries after recording albums outside his country.
"The music that we do it, it comes from Niger, more precisely from Agadez, specifies Bombino. The further you are, the farther you are from music. Even though I'm coming from there, I have to go back from time to time to recharge my batteries. That's why people recognize me. For me, it's important to be the same.
A Self-Educated Artist
Bombino's music takes on another dimension when one knows that he is self-taught. Omara Moctar points out that in the desert, music schools are rare and that he had to build his knowledge by rubbing shoulders with other musicians, going to see concerts every opportunity and watching videos of .. Jimi Hendrix
Improvisation is an integral part of his creative process. The complex melodies found on his albums recorded in the studio often come from an improvisation, during which he gives free rein to his instincts.
"It's the guitar that caught my attention," he says. he. I was 10 or 11 years old, and it was the guitar or nothing. My normal state is with a guitar next to me, even when I sleep.
The guitarist lives today in Niamey, the capital of Niger, but he had to go into exile at a young age in Algeria, when a Tuareg rebellion was raging in the region of Agadez. Several uprisings for the independence of this people have shaken this portion of the globe over the years. These popular movements and the fact that the sand and the sun of the Sahara dictate the daily life of people are still great sources of inspiration for the Nigerian guitarist.
When you see this sand and void, without any noise, for me it is the destination of freedom. It's so vast, so big, so pretty, so quiet. […] For an artist, there is no better place to learn music than in the desert
Bombino will be in concert Wednesday at the Astral, at 10 pm, at the occasion of the Montreal International Jazz Festival
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