A boy in exile picks up a guitar that visiting relatives have left behind. He teaches himself to play. Years later, his songs in Tamasheq, the language of the Tuareg, top world music charts in America. That is the story of Bombino.
Tidene
Omara “Bombino” Moctar was born on 1 January 1980 in Tidene, a Tuareg encampment about 80 kilometres north-east of Agadez in Niger. He belongs to the Ifoghas group of the Kel Air Tuareg.
Exile
When the Tuareg Rebellion broke out in 1990, Bombino, his father and his grandmother fled to neighbouring Algeria for safety. It was the first of several displacements that shaped his life.
The guitar
During that exile, visiting relatives left a guitar behind, and Bombino began teaching himself to play. He later studied with the respected Tuareg guitarist Haja Bebe.
Tuareg guitar music
Bombino plays in the tradition of Tuareg guitar music, sometimes called desert blues, which uses hypnotic riffs, electric guitars and rhythms rooted in the Sahara. Like Tinariwen, he sings in Tamasheq about exile, the desert and Tuareg identity.
Recorded at a wedding
In 2007, the filmmaker Hisham Mayet tracked down Bombino and recorded him and his electric band during a wedding performance. Later that year, tensions in Niger erupted into another Tuareg rebellion.
The documentary
Bombino became the subject of the documentary Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion, which told his story against the backdrop of conflict in northern Niger.
Agadez
The recordings led to his album Agadez, released in April 2011. It introduced his fluid guitar playing to international audiences.
Nomad
The album’s success attracted musicians including Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, who began producing Bombino’s next album in June 2012. Nomad was released by Nonesuch Records on 2 April 2013 and debuted at number one on the iTunes World Chart and the Billboard World Chart.
Touring
Since then, Bombino has toured widely in Europe and North America, playing festivals and concert halls with his band.
His playing
Bombino is admired for fluid, fast lead guitar lines that recall rock guitarists as much as Tuareg traditions. Critics have compared his energy to Jimi Hendrix, but his melodies remain rooted in the music of the Sahara.
Music from the margins
Bombino’s music comes from a people who have often lived on the edges of states and borders. Through a guitar left behind by chance, those experiences now reach audiences far from the Sahara.
