Bombino

Bombino’s history is a turbid one. From the culturally rich Tuareg people in Saharan Africa, Omara "Bombino" Moctar was exiled from his native Agadez, Niger, after the 1990 Tuareg Rebellion. Whilst in exile in Algeria, he picked up a guitar for the first time and began delving into the back catalogue of Jimi Hendrix to teach himself chords and manoeuvres. He floated around northern Africa, playing guitar and working as a cattle herder until repatriating in Agadez in 1997. In 2007, a second Tuareg revolution broke out. Two of Bombino’s bandmates were killed by the government and he was forced to seek refuge again until peace was restored in 2010. Bombino’s are songs of protest, oppression and resistance that reflect greatly on his tortuous beginnings as a persecuted cultural minority and a suppressed creative talent. Although he sings in the Tuareg language, Tamashek, his songs are potent and chilling in their delivery. No one dares shift a muscle throughout his hour-long set. He is a self-taught virtuoso, shaping complex rhythms and blistering licks. His talent has been recognised by Robert Plant and The Black Keys and he’s been recruited for international festival line-ups across Europe and the States.