Assikel [CD]

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Tamikrest - Assikel [CD]The iconic Saharan rock band's sixth album, Assikel, is by turns intimate, raw and deeply atmospheric. Recorded on analogue tape, with the band playing live and direct, the album fully captures their instinctive interplay and hypnotic presence. Songs of resistance, community and longing. Music for this moment. For two decades, Tamikrest's music has illuminated the sound, culture and conscience of the Kel Tamasheq (Touareg) people of the Sahara. Tamikrest means "connection" or "union" in Tamasheq, and the band have become one of the Kel Tamasheq's most vital voices, raising awareness of their plight while channeling experiences of exile, loss and resistance. Their sixth studio album, Assikel, which means "voyage" or "journey," shows just how far the band have come. Formed in 2006 by Ousmane Ag Mossa and Cheikh Ag Tiglia, both originally from Tinzawaten near the Mali-Algerian border, Tamikrest emerged under the influence of Tinariwen, those legendary pioneers of Ishumar guitar music. A serendipitous encounter with Glitterbeat's co-founder Chris Eckman and his group Dirtmusic at the 2008 Festival in the Desert in Mali marked the beginning of a long-standing partnership with the label -- one that has since helped bring the band to international attention. They are now an established four-piece with guitarist Paul Salvagnac, who joined in 2012, and percussionist Cédric 'Momo' Maurel, who joined a year later. Assikel marks a deliberate tonal shift. Drawing on years of touring and improvisation, the band chose to record live to analogue tape. The idea was inspired, in part, by their love of the sound created by Altın Gün's engineer/mixer Jasper Geluk. Recording took place over ten days in October 2025 at Jasper's Tone Boutique studio in Haarlem (NL), using a late-1960s 16-track tape machine. The result captures the rawness and spontaneity of the recording process, with this desire to go back to basics also extending to the album cover visuals, which were shot on film to give the artwork a grainy, timeless aesthetic. Thematically, Assikel continues Tamikrest's exploration of exile, displacement and assouf -- that untranslatable Tamasheq word encompassing nostalgia, longing and homesickness. This is, in short, music that only Tamikrest can make. Featuring Ibrahim Ag Alhabib. Show more