When the Nigerian singer/guitarist Aboubacar ‘Anana’ Harouna arrived in Brussels in 2005, he was inspired by the city to bring this superb desert blues up to date.
He discovered a city of blends, with a huge cultural diversity, and used it to add a touch of reggae, a hint of Afrobeat, and even some salsa.
Kel Assouf – which means ‘son of the desert’, called their first album ‘Tin Hinane’, after an ancient Touareg queen, to symbolise the culture they would like to revitalise and whose story he would like to see written in Tifinagh, the writing of the Touaregs.
“The guitar was an important instrument during the Touareg revolution, it helped us stand up for our rights. Now it must serve to make people aware about building our region, to get economic and cultural development of our people on its way…”
(Benjamin Tollet)
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