tamikrest
In the wake of Tinariwen's success, other Touareg bands have started to appear over the past few years. After Terakaft at the Amsterdam Roots Festival last week, this weekend's Metropolis Festival in Rotterdam offered the chance to see Tamikrest. They proved to be the highlight of the day.
Young enough to have been brought up on Tinariwen, Tamikrest (which in Tamashek means the knot, the junction, the coalition) have developed their own brand of the distinctive desert blues rock that somehow seems to have come full circle - from its ancient African roots via American blues and modern guitar rock, and now back in Africa.
At yesterday's show, under a fittingly burning sun, they started laidback and slowly added energy to their hypnotic grooves and wandering guitars, while their female vocalist added fuel to the fire with her high-pitched ululations.
For some examples, check out 'Aicha!' from their debut album 'Adagh' (2009) and 'Aratan N Tinariwen' from their new album.
Also at Metropolis, by the way, a completely different discovery was Belgian "haunting indie" band SX. All they've released so far is one song, but an EP is supposedly scheduled for later this year. Worth keeping an eye out for.