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Tartit are one of the best-known Tuareg roots groups in the world. More folkloric than their rocking brethren in Tinariwen, these five women and four men from the Timbuktu area work mostly with traditional instruments (tinde drum, imzad fiddle, tehardent lute, voices, handclaps, and wooden flute), and some of their material, like the desert song “Tihou Beyatene,” could easily pass for field recordings. But Tartit also use electric and acoustic guitars, and they venture at times into the folk-rock realm staked out by Tinariwen. “Achahore I Chachare Akate” offers a dense weave of voices, hand drums, clapping, and layers of plucked strings. The sinewy, seductive “Tadsaq” is a sparer, more plaintive electric-guitar-driven song. “Eha Ehenia” (about a bad girl) and “Chargouba” (about two rich men) offer slow and fast takes on Tuareg trance grooves, with the focus on women’s voices, sometimes keening, even grunting. Recorded in Mali with crisp, no-nonsense production and a stylistically varied repertoire, this may be the most subtly realized release of Tuareg roots music to date.
