Live at Other Music: Tinariwen (Episode #3)
Tinariwen, live at Other Music! I gotta say, this one still throws me for a loop. I’m always thrilled to hang out with any of our favorite artists for an evening at the shop, and from the simple fact alone that we’re located in the heart of downtown NYC, we’re lucky enough to get to meet many of our heroes somewhat routinely. Yet Tinariwen were something special, definitely from a different world, rolling in here in their flowing robes, barely a word of English spoken between them (I conducted our interview through an interpreter in a free-flowing mixture of Tamashek and French), and a deep passion and intensity that seems to inhabit whatever space they enter. Anyway, we asked, they came, and they rocked the joint. The phone was ringing off the hook all day, the place was packed to the gills and we still had to turn a lot of you away at the door… sorry, but you can see it all now! I thought the group might scoff at our tiny p.a. and general low-tech setup, but they were the most easy-going and pro band I’ve seen in a long while, they just plugged in, sidled up to the mics and nailed it. Even without their spiritual leader Ibrahim Ag Alhabib in the house (the group’s lineup is somewhat malleable, and Ibrahim is apparently not always up for their ongoing international trekking), Tinariwen put on one of the best shows these four walls have ever seen, and I’m so happy that we have this film to show the world!
-Josh
TINARIWEN in series: Live From Other Music from Dig For Fire on Vimeo.
UPCOMING FILM PREMIERES: January 11: The Clean January 25: Vampire Weekend February 8: Celebration February 22: Richard Hawley March 7: White Williams |
