Mdou Moctar

Since the late 2000s, Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar has explored new approaches to the West African desert blues first popularized by bands like Tinariwen and Tartit. His songs include acoustic odes to his arid homeland, but also psych-rock odysseys supercharged with galloping rhythms and rock-star techniques. Moctar was born in the mid-’80s in Tchintabaraden, Niger. Although raised in a Muslim family that disapproved of music as a career, he was mesmerized by Tuareg guitar icons like Abdallah Oumbadougou and taught himself to play using a homemade instrument with the cables from bicycle brakes serving as strings. He first came to international attention in 2011 when the Portland-based label Sahel Sounds released his Auto-Tuned ballad “Tahoultine,” and his fame rose further in 2015 when Sahel Sounds’ Christopher Kirkley cast Moctar as the star in an independent Tamashek-language film remake of Prince’s Purple Rain set in Niger’s desert-blues boomtown of Agadez. Moctar and his backing band have since hit the road on numerous international tour dates, while his Matador-released 2021 album Afrique Victime shows the songwriter continuing to explore a sound that’s equally heady and fiery.