Imarhan have a sound that reflect their cultural and generational background; dry guitar riffs, pop melodies and panafrican rhythms which draw upon traditional Tuareg music, African ballads and modern pop and rock they have heard while growing up. The voice of a new generation, Imarhan create a rare symbiosis of the ancient and modern and channeling a rich and varied wave of musical influences from Algeria, Sub Saharan Africa and the West, Imarhan celebrate Kel Tamashek stories of today.
Released on 2018, “Temet”, means “connections,” in Tamashek and the album is an energetic wake up call for unity, reminding people that we are all connected and that only through the acceptance and uptake of this union will we be able to solve the troubles all cultures seem to be dealing with in this important moment in time.
“People should love each other. They need to know each other, we need to know each other, everyone should get to know their neighbor,” says frontman Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane – aka Sadam. “We need to have the same approach as our elders,” he continues, “You will stumble across an old man who knows the world and will hand down his knowledge to his children.“
Recorded in Paris in early 2017 and produced by the band with help from Patrick Votan and Tinariwen’s Eyadou Ag Leche, Temet marks a huge leap forward both creatively and artistically for a band who were heralded by The Guardian as one of the leading-lights of the “new–wave of Tuareg music.” Now firmly established and regarded as torch-bearers by the new generation of musicians in Algeria and the Mali border area, the album sees Imarhan broadening their sound beyond the meditative desert blues of their debut to take in elements of funk, disco and rock.
Growing up near each other in Tamanrasset, Southern Algeria, in a Tuareg community of Northern Malian descent, Imarhan formed at school in 2008 under the guidance of Tinariwen (Eyadou Ag Leche of Tinariwen is a cousin of frontman Sadam, and guided their evolution and produced and co-wrote several songs on their debut album). The band quickly gained acclaim for their effortless blend of the ancestral Tamashek poetry and traditional rhythms of their elders and sounds which reflected their youth and urban upbringing listening to music from around the globe.
