Star of the desert blues, Goumar Almoctar, known as Bombino, was born and raised in Niger, in Agadez, in northern Africa, in the tribe of the Tuareg Ifoghas, which has been fighting for centuries against colonialism and the imposition of the most severe Islam. Forced to flee several times with his family, during a visit the relatives forget a guitar that the little Bombino keeps for himself, starting to practice. He became a pupil of the famous guitarist Tuareg Haia Bebe and soon after joined his band, acquiring the nickname of Bombino, a misspelling of the Italian “child”. He started to get passionate about Jimi Hendrix and Mark Knopfler, of whom he studied the techniques during the pastures between Algeria and Libya. Back in Niger Bombino embarks on a career as a full-time musician and his talent does not go unnoticed. In 2009, a chance encounter with director Ron Wyman changed his fate. But it is only a year after Wyman manages to track down Bombino, meanwhile forced to flee to Burkina Faso following the murder of two members of his band, killed in a riot. Wyman dedicated much of his documentary about the Tuareg tribes in Bombino and became a producer of Agadez, his solo album debut (his first album dates back to 2009, Group Bombino – Guitars from Agadez, vol. 2).
Meanwhile the fame of the young talent grows to be known all over the world and play in the most important music festivals, with prestigious collaborations, including with Keith Richards. Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) meets Bombino and is struck by it, deciding to produce Nomad, the third album released worldwide in April 2013 on the Nonesuch/Warner label. Recorded in Auerbach’s studio in Nashville, Nomad is the encounter of desert-rock with blues, played by the skilled hands of Bombino and enriched by his intense and vigorous voice.
Bombino’s sounds are reminiscent of those of Tinariwen, nearby desert players, but his electrifying melodies, which enclose the spirit of resistance and rebellion, exude an irresistible groove. A version of the dense and magmatic blues, to which is added the peculiarity of breaking away from the classic metric based on the “call and response” between lead singer and chorus (usually female) replacing the latter with the melodic disruptions of the guitar. Composer and desert-rock guitarist, Bombino refers to the typical sounds of the 60-70, from Jimi Hendrix to Jimmy Page, inserting them in an American rock-blues context enriched by vocalism in Tamasheq, the Tuareg language.
In Italy the sound of Bombino has conquered everyone, from Fabio Fazio who wanted him as a guest to Che tempo che Fa a Jovanotti who fascinated by his story has involved him in the production of his latest album, in fact, “Si alza il vento” is bornthe result of the collaboration between the Tuscan artist and the Tuareg guitarist. A concert to share the freshness of rock and its deep desire for peace and freedom.
His third album, Azel, was recorded at Woodstock in October 2015 and was released in early April 2016 on the American label Partisan Records. Fans of Bombino and Tuareg music in general will notice several innovations in the tracks of this album. The first is the introduction of a new style of which Bombino is a pioneer and which he affectionately calls “Tuareggae”, a union between the blues/rock Tuareg with the reggae style one drop. Another is the use for the first time of Western vocal harmonies within Tuareg music tracks, which give the songs new intensity. Finally his band is more energetic and united than ever.
Released by Partisan Records on May 18 and produced by its historical manager Eric Herman, Deran, translated as ‘best wishes’, is Bombino’s most direct and engaging album, and brings with it a message of hope and good wishes to a world that is experiencing a period of great pain and turmoil.
Written and sung entirely in the native language of Bombino, Tamasheq, Deran was recorded in ten days in Casablanca, in the studio of the Moroccan king Mohammed VI. It is the first album by Bombino made in Africa, for almost ten years. Bombino said “the goal of this album has always been to get closer to Africa.” The ten tracks of the album show the great ability of Bombino to work different genres, from folk, to rock, through the blues and funk and of course the subgenre “Tuareggae”, of which he is a pioneer and precursor.
The luminary of the guitar and folk hero Omara “Bombino” Moctar released the new album “Sahel” on September 15 on Partisan Records. Sahel takes its name from the vast African region stretching east to west from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and is the highly anticipated sequel to his 2018 album Deran that made Bombino the first Grammy-nominated Nigerian artist.
To give life to “Sahel”, Bombino worked closely with the Welsh producer David Wrench (David Byrne, Frank Ocean, Caribou, Goldfrapp, The xx, Sampha), moving with his companions to the Hiba studio in Casablanca (the most important recording studio in Africa) for ten days to make the album. ‘Sahel‘ is Bombino’s most personal, powerful and political work. It is also the most varied from the sound point of view, a quality that it has set out to achieve from the beginning and that intends to directly reflect the complex mosaic of cultures and people that make up the Sahel itself.
In recent years, Bombino has become an internationally acclaimed artist and has collaborated with numerous artists and admirers such as Stevie Wonder, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dave Longstreth, Dan Auerbach and many others. He participated in the Bonnaroo and the Newport Folk Festival, praised by Pitchfork as “authentic and ambitious.”