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Bombino, Live In Concert: Newport Folk 2013

Adam Kissick for NPR

A young, Niger-born Tuareg guitarist inspired by the wizardry of Saharan rock bands like Tinariwen, Omar Moctar (a.k.a. Bombino) has helped make African music more relatable to U.S. fans, thanks to both his own instrumental gifts and to collaborators like The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who produced Bombino's new album, Nomad. Though Bombino sings in the Tuareg language of Tamashek, with lyrics that often specifically address the challenges of his exiled tribe, there's a hypnotic kick to his music that transcends barriers of language and geography.

That hypnotic feel especially comes out when Bombino takes to the stage with his full band. Hear Bombino perform songs from Nomad and his 2011 breakthrough Agadez as part of the 2013 Newport Folk Festival, recorded live on Sunday, July 28 in Newport, R.I.

Set List

  • "Amidinine"
  • "Her Tenere"
  • "Tar Hani (My Love)"
  • "Iyat Idounia Ayashen (Another Life)"
  • "Aman"
  • "Kammou Taliat (You, My Beloved)"
  • "Amidinine" (reprise)
  • Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)