Track Listing

1. Cler Achel
2. Mano Dayak
3. Matadjem Yinmixan
4. Ahimana
5. Soixante Trois
6. Toumast
7. Imidiwan Winakalin
8. Awa Didjen
9. Ikyadarh Dim
10. Tamatant Tilay
11. Assouf
12. Izarharh Tenere

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13067 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-05
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Prior to the release of Aman Iman: Water is Life, it seemed that few people had heard of Tinariwen. Formed in a refugee camp in the southern Sahara desert, this Touareg band have released two previous albums since 2001, garnering awards and critical acclaim around the world. But 2007's Aman Iman: Water is Life is probably their best album yet. It's certainly the most accessible, particularly to music fans who would never dream of delving into world music. The circular rhythms of the bass and drums lay down a simple--almost hypnotic--beat, which is then given a rougher edge by the electric riffs of the band's four lead guitarists. It sounds like an even more primal, stripped down blues taken back to its roots (assuming, that is, that the roots of blues were sung in French and Tamashek). Throughout, producer Justin Adams (taking a break from his regular work as Robert Plant's guitarist in Strange Sensation) commendably avoids the high-gloss polish that too often plagues world music albums. This is rebel music in the true sense of the term. With Aman Iman: Water is Life, Tinariwen have created a rock album that's unique, vibrant and wholly original. Few Western bands can boast the same. --Ted Kord

Customer Reviews

World music? No. Just great music!
I'm no world music expert, but from time to time something comes along from outside the English speaking world that demands my attention. 'Aman Iman' is such an album. These Touareg musicians from the Western Sahara create a music whose 'otherness' is obvious, yet which is immediately accessible to western sensibilities. Their music evokes the solitude of the desert and the loneliness of exile, and yet is life affiriming and joyous. It's a thrumming, hypnotic, even foot-stomping sound, not obviously African, with arabic influences and hints of the blues, and deserves a wider audience.

Good stuff
If, like me, you're starting out in the great savannas of world music and have seen this album flashed around on music sites, then can i say this is great stuff and much more entertaining than several cd's that are offered at the moment (Apart from orchestra boabab, possibly) Enjoy.

Bouncing Sahara rythms
Decidedly funky, a Jimmy Hendrix like lead guitar - you wouldn't believe Tinariwen comes straight out of the Sahara desert. This is an amazing record, sounding perfectly modern at times, only to remind you immediately of its roots.

What Yothu Yindi did for Australian aboriginal music, Tinariwen does for the Tuareg, fully embracing western instruments and using these to explore new angles on their traditional songs. Amazing, I repeat, amazing.