Best album triumph for Tuareg tribesmen

Published on Sunday 8 November 2009 21:40

A BAND of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region were today acclaimed for having the best album of the year, beating established acts such as Kings Of Leon and Bob Dylan.

Tinariwen triumphed in the Uncut Music Awards for their fourth album Imidiwan: Companions, which was chosen by a panel including Billy Bragg and Radio 2 DJ Mark Radcliffe.

The award, given by music magazine Uncut, is handed to the album which judges believe to be the greatest release of the past 12 months. Tinariwen were the only non-American act on the shortlist of eight.

The band was the unanimous choice of the 11 judges, who also included Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold and former EMI chief executive Tony Wadsworth.

The group, from northern Mali, formed in 1979 and mix electric blues with Middle Eastern and African sounds to create their own potent style. They rose to prominence in the 1980s, raising awareness of political issues in the region and latterly bringing their plight in the southern Sahara to a wider world.

Other acts in the running for the award included Wilco, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear and The Low Anthem.

Ibrahim Ag Alhabib of Tinariwen said of the award: "It gives us the strength to carry on working and spreading the message about the peace of our desert home and I'm glad that our music can cross frontiers and talk to people around the world."