Tarkat Tajje / Let's Go!

Etran Finatawa’s 2010 album Tarkat Tajje / Let’s Go! sounds immediately different than other desert blues records — the call and response vocals on opener “Aitimani” are more cadenced and trancey that the usual free flowing ones of Tuareg bands, and the percussion is more prominent, with an emphasis on hand drums and other intricate rhythms. Niger-based Etran Finatawa are in fact one of the few bands to combine the musical traditions of two nomadic Saharan cultures, the Tuareg and the Wodaabe, creating a distinctive, rhythm, driven sound. The great protagonist of desert blues, the electric guitar, steps out of the limelight, but still holds everything together by providing a steady pulse that weaves through the layers of percussion and vocals. The focus here is more on subtle textures than on big, explosive shows of virtuosity, but the result is just as hypnotic.