music of resistance

al-jazeera english has recently been airing this series of documentaries, music of resistance, hosted by steve chandra savale of asian dub foundation. i've seen a couple of the episodes, and while i would kind of wish for different interview questions here, or more relevant framing there, how cool is it that this series even exists?! hurray!

this is the one on tinariwen, a band of ex-combatants & roqueros from the sahara (touareg people). tinariwen have been darlings of the rock press for some time, as their backstory combines electric guitars & kalashnikovs, and they play gigs in the desert to audiences who arrive mostly via camel. the western press loves that. unlike most of the writing on them i've seen so far, this documentary lets them tell their own story, full of the struggle & love of their people and land, and it also includes some really beautiful video of their performances.

music of resistance : survival in the southern sahara





**

al-jazeera english, by the way, has done some excellent documentaries recently and though its regular coverage of regional and international events varies a bit in terms of editorial line, it's infinitely better than almost anything else out there in the english-language tv news world, and some of it is really brilliant. most cable providers in the u.s. don't won't transmit it, but you can find it online & in a mobile-accessible version.