Tuareg; celebrated through a grand concert by Bombino and his percussionist Serge.
“I have experienced in my life many problems because of politics and my community too.” – Bombino
Bombino is a soul gripping vocalist and guitar playing musician. His spirit, passion and love for his roots carry him through his career like the magic carpet ride over the desert in the fairytale that has now become his life. His story started in 1980 in Tidene, Niger a Tuareg encampment just outside of Agadez in Africa.
During the 1990’s due to the community backbone breaking rebellion in Tuareg, Bombino and his family were forced to flee to neighbouring Algeria for safety. Throughout his years in exile he continued to nurture deep within himself the stories of Agadez and held a mission in the depths of his soul to tell his country’s stories. In 1997 he returned home and pursued a career in doing exactly that; all the while continuing to face adversity and struggle. The phases of rebellion only but went through waves of calmness, then eruption.
The Politics
“I have experienced in my life many problems because of politics and my community too. I learned a lot playing with political musical groups. So it is related to my life. I’m not interested personally in politics. I just speak from my own experience and the effect it has on my community. Politics is a big part of this so it is integrated in my life. The messages in my music are very important to me,” says Bombino.
He is without a doubt a man who has experienced loss and pain in ways that have become almost classical in the story of a war torn third world Africa. He has in the same way risen above what was prescribed to him as destiny and changed the face of his own circumstance, through music. The turn of 2010 saw the end of the fighting in Bombino – The Singing Survivor
The pressure to sing in English…
He sings in his traditional languages and neither feels the need or pressures himself to start singing in English – insisting that no vital part of the story gets lost on whomever it’s intended for.
“You see we are playing this music to discover our culture and our language. What we do is translate the meaning of the songs during our concerts, this way others can also understand and it embraces everybody,” he affirms.
What you may not know about the desert
“The desert has something special; there is a saying in Tuareg: ‘If the water washes the body the desert washes the spirit’. This magical place gives peace, freedom and silence to its people. When you come to the desert it cleans all your problems you may keep in your spirit. And, even the taste of meat cooked in the desert with the same vegetables and cereals as in the town is very different; it is so good to eat it. You will feel free, really, when in the desert. It gives comfort because you will have a big space only for you with billions of stars,” he explains.
About the beautiful song Assalam Felawan
This melodic piece written during his exile in Burkina Faso in 2008, speaks about the unity of his community and the hardships encountered during the war. He sings of the insecurity of the people and the heart wrenching need to run away from the land they loved so much, and how one day they would all be back.
The Rolling Stones Project
Bombino laughs, “When I played with the Rolling Stones I did not know who they were, I just understood that they are great when I saw their cars! I think I realised then who they were. We recorded the song Hey Negritude and it was a great experience.”
Bombino is certainly an ambassador for subtle boldness in storytelling for his people and remains humbly, a representation of the true peace that dominates Agadez. He manages his lifestyle and career with a forward thinking and forgiving outlook on what it means to be alive.
Agadez is a homeland of nomadic people who herd camels, goats and sheep. However, as simplified as their existence may be – they still always remember why and ‘how-to’ fight fiercely in the name of the continued existence of their culture and heritage. This is definitely something we can look upon as a telling anecdote for our own lives.
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