CD Reviews

Toumast

Ishumar | Real World

By JEFF TAMARKIN | April 15, 2008

3.0 Stars

Were they not, in “Ezeref,” singing about how they wish they could “bring back my baby camels and sheep, to attach my goats and lamb together with the same rope” (not that you’d know without reading the translation from Berber Arabic), Toumast would probably strike listeners as a tasty hypno-groove blues-rock band. Which they are, except that most blues bands can’t claim that their leader (in this case, guitarist/vocalist Moussa Ag Keyna) has put in time as an armed Touareg freedom fighter. Like their Saharan compatriots Tinariwen (a major influence in style and spirit), Toumast are soul rebels whose gritty/sweet trancy guitar jams reflect a life of struggle and turmoil. Most of the songs on Ishumar aren’t about farm animals, either: “Ikalane Walegh” recalls a return home after time spent abroad to find that little has changed, and “Kik Ayittma” cautions, “Hey! My brothers! Blood has been shed.” Now that’s the blues.

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