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CLE 078CD
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Al Bilali Soudan delivers Takamba in its rawest form -- the original desert sound. From Timbuktu, these masters command the tehardent, a three-stringed lute buzzing with hypnotic power, propelled by deep calabash rhythms. Their music is tradition unleashed: unrefined, immediate, and pulsing with the spirit of Saharan gatherings. Recorded during informal rehearsals, this session captures Al Bilali Soudan's essence. Two extended tracks stretch beyond 13 minutes, locking into relentless trance inducing grooves. Abellow Yattara leads with tehardent work that's both virtuosic and deeply rooted, proving why he's revered as a keeper of Mali's musical legacy. This is desert music at its most primal. No studio effects, no concessions -- just real, raw resonance of strings, skin and voice. For those who think they know African blues, here's the deeper truth.
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CLE 073CD
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Al Bilali Soudan from Timbuktu -- proto punk rock takamba -- this music blows up any preconceptions. An extended family of musicians and griots sought after for generations. Torch-bearers of quintessential Tamasheq music shaped by loops, shouts and the continuous interweave of tehardent and hand percussion. These masters bring youth and energy with lightning-fast mastery of traditional sounds improvised and adapted into the 21st century.
"The electronic buzz of plugged-in tehardent no longer sounds like the repetition of background music. Now, it starts a fire, fully energized, and with every member at full volume." --Adriane Pontecorvo, PopMatters
"We saw the group at Joe's Pub in New York in their first performance on Sept. 14, 2022, and it was exquisite. Al Bilali Soudan's two albums are both highly recommended, but there is nothing like seeing this group live. Hypnotic. Seductive. Mind-blowing. Words fail." --Banning Eyre, Afropop Worldwide
"From Timbuktu, as we spell it, four or five male blood relatives shout and expostulate their songs in Tamashek and Songhai ... as they thrash and manipulate their ngoni-like tehardents. Whether conjoining barely coexisting peoples or boosting kind women who are better than they are, both of which they make sound worthy and neither of which they make sound easy, they will get your attention, guaranteed. If you like desert music enough to suspect you've heard it before, you haven't -- Tinariwen are showbiz by comparison, Tamikrest urbane, Tartit cute." --Robert Christgau
"A primordial rock album thousands of years before the concept of rock was ever hatched." --Dennis Rozanski, Bluesrag
"wild and untamed" --Nigel Williamson, Songlines
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CLE 029CD
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Al Bilali Soudan are Abellaw Yattara, Aboubacrine Yattara, Mohamed Ag Abellaw, and Thialé Ag Aboubacrine. Fathers and sons, uncles and cousins. Forgeron, griot, bards from Tombouctou/Timbuktu, Northern Mali instrumentation is tehardant/ngoni and calabash. Traditional repertoire adapted and improvised. Lightning fast, sometimes looping, sometimes lyrical. This is dance music, this is culture preserved, this is to encourage people who have fled from their homes. This is modern music performed on ancient instruments. Like the polyglot region where they live, their lyrics are in Tamasheq, Songhai, French and English Al Bilali Soudan perform frequently at celebrations and festivals.
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CLE 029LP
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LP version. Al Bilali Soudan are Abellaw Yattara, Aboubacrine Yattara, Mohamed Ag Abellaw, and Thialé Ag Aboubacrine. Fathers and sons, uncles and cousins. Forgeron, griot, bards from Tombouctou/Timbuktu, Northern Mali instrumentation is tehardant/ngoni and calabash. Traditional repertoire adapted and improvised. Lightning fast, sometimes looping, sometimes lyrical. This is dance music, this is culture preserved, this is to encourage people who have fled from their homes. This is modern music performed on ancient instruments. Like the polyglot region where they live, their lyrics are in Tamasheq, Songhai, French and English Al Bilali Soudan perform frequently at celebrations and festivals.
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CLE 2012001CD
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Al Bilali Soudan's performance-style is an improvisational tour de force of traditionally-based rhythms and scales. The group's name is the ancient name of the city of Timbuktu. Their style is takamba, or in Timbuktu, tashigalt. Or, simply, tehardent, after the traditional stringed instrument played by these musicians. The group's leader, Abellow Yattara, hails from a well-known Tuareg griot family which has performed this music for generations. Mr. Yattara began to play this three-stringed fretless instrument when he was 10 years old. Both his father and uncle were master musicians and his grandfather was also known for making the ceremonial swords used in traditional dance that accompanies the music. Abellow Yattara's instrument is widely heard in West Africa. Known as tehardent in Tamasheq, ngoni in Bambara, kourbou in Sonhrai, and tidinit in Arabic, it is the precursor of the modern banjo. Instruments similar to the tehardent have accompanied griots, bards, dancers, and vocalists for centuries. The percussion instruments on this recording are the calabash, a hollowed half-gourd. Mr. Yattara can also be heard on many other recordings, such as the first cassette recordings of Ali Farka Touré, the 1970s recordings of the Orchestre De Tombouctou, and many Radio Mali broadcasts. He can also be heard on the recordings of several other contemporary artists such as the vocalist, Khaira Arby, and he is widely sought-after to play at weddings, baptisms and other celebrations. Now, Abellow Yattara brings his own band, Al Bilali Soudan, to world audiences. Made up of cousins and in-laws, the group has played together for years. Aboubacrine Yattara plays the bass tehardent, Mohamed Dicko and Abdoulaye Ag Mohamed play calabash. Their ease with one another is obvious in the verve of their relaxed performance-style. This recording represents contemporary masters of their instruments and their genre.
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