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Bombino (musician)

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Bombino
ⴱⵓⵎⴱⵉⵏⵓ
Bombino performing at the Kult in Niederstetten, Germany
Bombino performing at the Kult in Niederstetten, Germany
Background information
Birth nameGoumour Almoctar
Born1980 (age 43–44)
Tidene, Niger
GenresSaharan rock, blues, Tuareg music
Occupation(s)Musician, singer
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals
LabelsCumbancha Discovery, Nonesuch, Partisan
Websitewww.bombinomusic.com
At Aarhus Festival, Denmark 2018
Bombino performing live at the Druga Godba Festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia (2014)

Omara "Bombino" Moctar (in Tifinagh ⴱⵓⵎⴱⵉⵏⵓ; born 1980) is a Tuareg singer-songwriter and guitarist from Niger. His music is sung in Tamasheq and often addresses Tuareg geopolitical concerns.[1] Bombino is the subject of the documentary film Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion.

Biography

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Youth and musical beginnings

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Bombino was born in 1980 in Tidene, Niger, a Tuareg encampment about 80 kilometers northeast of Agadez. He is a member of the Ifoghas tribe, which belongs to the Kel Air Tuareg federation.[2] Following the outbreak of the Tuareg Rebellion in 1990, Bombino, along with his father and grandmother, was forced to flee to neighboring Algeria for safety.[2] During this time, visiting relatives left behind a guitar, and Bombino began to teach himself how to play.[3] He later studied with renowned Tuareg guitarist Haja Bebe. Bebe asked him to join his band where he gained the nickname "Bombino", which is derived from the Italian word "bambino", meaning 'little child'. While living in Algeria and Libya in his teen years, Bombino and his friends watched videos of Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler and others to learn their styles. He worked as both a musician and a herder in the desert near Tripoli. By 1997, Bombino had returned to Agadez and began life as a professional musician.[4]

Recordings and unrest in Niger

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Filmmaker Hisham Mayet managed to track down and record Bombino and his electric band in 2007 during a wedding performance. That recording takes up one side of the original vinyl release of Group Bombino – Guitars from Agadez, vol. 2, released in 2009 by Sublime Frequencies. The A-side contains acoustic performances, in the 'dry guitar' style.[5] Later in 2007, tensions grew again in Niger and ultimately erupted into another Tuareg Rebellion. The government, hoping to thwart the rebellion in all its forms, banned guitars for the Tuareg, as the instrument was seen as a symbol of rebellion. Bombino remarked in an interview, "I do not see my guitar as a gun but rather as a hammer with which to help build the house of the Tuareg people."[6] Additionally, two of Bombino's fellow musicians were executed, and he was forced into exile in neighboring Burkina Faso.[4][7]

International career, and return home

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Bombino then joined Tidawt, a band by Nigerien musician Hasso Akotey, which performed in North America in an exhibit of Tuareg art organized by the Cantor Center for Visual Arts. While there, Tidawt was invited by saxophonist Tim Ries to perform in his new album of The Rolling Stones versions, Stone's World: The Rolling Stones Project Volume 2, where they played in a cover of "Hey Negrita", with band members Keith Richards and Charlie Watts.[4] Bombino later said he had never heard of The Rolling Stones, given that white rock musicians do not have a strong following in Africa.[8]

In January 2010, Bombino was able to return to his home in Agadez. To celebrate the end of the conflict, a large concert was organized at the base of the Grand Mosque in Agadez, having received the blessing of the Sultan. Bombino and his band played to over a thousand people at the concert, all dancing and celebrating the end of their struggle. The footage was also recorded for a documentary, Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion.[9]

While Bombino lived in exile in Burkina Faso, filmmaker Ron Wyman, having heard cassette recordings of his music, tracked him down and encouraged Bombino to properly record his music. Bombino agreed, and the two of them, with the help of Chris Decato, produced an album together in Agadez. The recordings culminated in his album Agadez, released in April 2011. Agadez debuted at the top of the iTunes World Chart.[10]

The success of Agadez attracted many musical stars to Bombino including Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. In June 2012, Auerbach began producing Bombino's second international solo album titled Nomad. Nomad was released by Nonesuch Records on April 2, 2013[3][11] and debuted at number one on the iTunes World Chart and Billboard World Chart.[3][12] The album garnered him acclaim as a "virtuoso".[13] In the meantime, war broke out again in Mali, and a few months after that Bombino and Tinariwen played a show in Paris, where they confirmed the idea of their music as essentially rebellious.[14] Bombino began a concert tour of the United States in May 2013.[3] The tour includes appearances at major music festivals, including Bonnaroo and The Newport Folk Festival. In 2013, Bombino was also invited to open for Robert Plant, Amadou & Mariam and Gogol Bordello.[15]

On April 1, 2016, Bombino released Azel. It was produced by David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors Pitchfork's Andy Beta notes that the record "features a sublime iteration of desert blues that's both authentic and ambitious."[16]

For his sixth studio album, Deran, Bombino recorded in Casablanca at Studio HIBA, a recording studio owned by the king of Morocco. In May 2018, ahead of the album's release, the music blog, Noisey, called Bombino "the World's Best Guitarist™."[17] Then, on the day before Deran's release, Bombino was dubbed "the Sultan of Shred" by The New York Times,[18] a nickname that was then adopted by several news outlets around the world. Deran was officially released on May 18, 2018, and was received with widespread acclaim for both its musicality and its embracement of culture and heritage. Jason Heller of NPR wrote that Bombino's performance on the album "speaks and breathes across centuries."[19] Deran was nominated in the category of Best World Music Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.[20] Bombino is the first Nigerien artist to be nominated for a Grammy award.[21]

In 2021, Bombino released Live in Amsterdam, and in 2023, he released Sahel, both on Partisan Records.[22]

Discography

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References

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  1. ^ Tsioulcas, Anastasia (24 March 2013). "First Listen: Bombino, 'Nomad'". NPR.org. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Bombino Biography". Cumbancha.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d "Bombino's New Album Nomad Due April 2nd". Cumbancha.com. 1 February 2013. Archived from the original on 19 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  4. ^ a b c "Guitarist Bombino, a Taureg exile from Africa, brings his music to Oakland and Santa Cruz". Mercurynews.com. 9 April 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  5. ^ Ardaiolo, Michael (29 January 2009). "Dusted Reviews: Group Bombino - Guitars from Agadez, Vol. 2". Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Interview with Bombino: 'I envied Jimi Hendrix's freedom'". artistxite.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  7. ^ Turner, Jill (10 February 2010). "Bombino gets European release for his album Agadez on Cumbancha". GondwanaSound.com. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  8. ^ "Conversa com Bombino". Veja (in Portuguese). 26 August 2015.
  9. ^ "Bombino: Niger's Tuareg guitar hero". The Guardian. 7 April 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  10. ^ Heselgrave, Doug (8 February 2011). "Silk and Sandpaper – new music from the desert". NoDepression.com. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  11. ^ "Nonesuch to Release New Album from Tuareg Guitarist/Singer Bombino in Early 2013". Nonesuch.com. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  12. ^ "Bonnaroo Bio". Bonnaroo.com. 13 June 2013. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  13. ^ Wiser, Danny (30 October 2020). "NIGER: Nomad - Bombino". 200worldalbums.com. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  14. ^ Amico, Marta (2016). "La résistance des Touaregs au prisme de la World Music". Cahiers d'Études Africaines. 56 (224): 821–844. doi:10.4000/etudesafricaines.18360. JSTOR 26368587.
  15. ^ "Bombino Official Tour Dates". bombinomusic.com. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  16. ^ "Bombino: Azel Album Review – Pitchfork". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  17. ^ Lipez, Zachary (6 March 2018). "Bombino, the World's Best Guitarist™, Shares New Song "Tehigren"". Noisey.
  18. ^ Rubin, Mike (17 May 2018). "How Bombino Became the Sultan of Shred". The New York Times.
  19. ^ Heller, Jason (10 May 2018). "'Deran' Returns To Bombino's Roots". National Public Radio.
  20. ^ "2019 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominations List". Grammy.com. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  21. ^ Lang, Audrey (10 January 2019). "Bombino, the First Nigerien Artist to Be Nominated For a Grammy". Okayafrica.com. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  22. ^ Geiger, Amy. "Bombino announces LP 'Sahel' & tour, shares "Aitma"". Brooklyn Vegan. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  23. ^ Pareles, Jon (20 January 2017). "Residente Chases His Muse, at the Genetic Level". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 April 2017.

Further reading

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