Will it be their blockbuster record? Pretty damn fine either way.

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

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2581 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

CD Description
Sub-Saharan guitar blues has taken a strong enough footholdin the world music scene to qualify as its own genre, with its own stars and aesthetics and, now, its own alternative offshoots like Tinariwen. Formed in the 1980s in Muammar Qaddafi's rebel training camps, this group of Touareg nomads andformer soldiers play droning, heartfelt, trance-inducing blues. Like their Malian peers, they favor hypnotic, single-note guitar runs with gutbucket vocals that double the guitar melody. Where they differ is in an improvisational group dynamic that adds elements of funk, rock, and a certain hallucinatory desert feel that seems less inspired by American blues forms and more an organic outpouring of pure inspiration, creating an utterly compelling, sui generis sound. On this 2007 release, their third album, these guys sing and play as if their lives depend on it.

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Customer Reviews

More mesmerising music from Mali.
'Aman Iman:Water Is Life' surpasses Tinariwen's wonderful 2003 CD 'Amassakoul'(see my review). It was recorded at Bogolan studios in Bamako, Mali and produced by Justin Adams, currently the guitarist in Robert Plant's 'Strange Sensation' band. 'Aman Iman' has a tougher, more exciting sound than their previous two albums and is enhanced by the contribution of charismatic Saharan poet Mohammed Ag Itlale aka 'Japonais' on some tracks.
This Tuareg guitar band, who came together in 1982 in Libyan refugee camps, play mesmerising and uncompromising 'desert blues' born out of struggle for independence from the Malian government.
These 12 stirring,mysterious & timeless songs, mostly sung in Tamashek, deserve to reach the widest possible audience and 'Aman Iman' should be a strong contender for album of 2007.

Breathtaking
This beats 10 types of you-know-what out of anything i've bought this year, including the Vieux Farka Toure CD, which has had a lot of playing. Once you've heard the infectious gritty guitar, surprisingly funky rhythms and captivating vocals you'll have to have this wherever you go. Don't even think about not buying it. Now, I'm off to buy their entire back catalogue...

Excellent stuff
What can I say? If you like arabic voices, african rythmns, blues guitar and perfect melodies this is the album for you. Tinariwen's Aman Iman (Water Is Life) doesn't fit neatly into any category - apart from the obvious World Music - but will fit in well with any serious music collection. The band formed in 1982 in Moammar al-Qadhafi's camps of Tuareg rebels. They play in the Tishoumaren ("music of the unemployed") style, and sing mostly in the French and Tamashek languages. Their songs mostly concerning independence for their people from the government of Mali. They are said to be the first Tuareg band to use electric guitars. Excellent stuff.