Desert blues is a style of music in northern Africa. Critics describe the music as a mix of blues music and North African music. Various terms are used to describe it, including Tishoumaren, assouf, desert rock, takamba, Tuareg rock. The musical style took shape as an expression of the difficult sociopolitical situation of the Tamasheq people after colonial powers left North Africa. The word Tishoumaren is derived from the French word , meaning "the unemployed". Sometimes simply called "guitar music," the style takes inspiration from the emergence of the Tamasheq as a people and a culture amidst violent turmoil in post-colonial North Africa.
Historical background
The Tamasheq live in a region of North Africa that covers large portions of the Sahara across the modern-day national boundaries of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Chad, and to a lesser extent, reaching into Burkina Faso and Nigeria. At the turn of the 20th century, the Tamasheq were subjected to the French colonial government after lengthy resistance. With the departure of colonial powers in the 1950s and 1960s, the lands inhabited by the Tamasheq were split primarily between the four new countries of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Chad. For the next few decades, natural resources diminished due to increasing desertification while the post-colonial political and economic structures struggled. As a result, the Tamasheq have encountered hardship for survival in a number of ways. In 1973, a major drought forced many of the Tamasheq people throughout the deserts to reconsider their traditional way of life as nomadic herders. Many took refuge in urban centers across the region, but with many lacking 'formal' education, the Tamasheq were largely unemployed. The term ishumar began to be used describing young Tamasheq. A unique culture began to arise among many of the economically and politically marginalized youths, sometimes rebellious or revolutionary in nature, reasserting a cultural pride. Many young men took employment in a Tamasheq military unit being assembled by Libyan military leaderMuammar al-Gaddafi. Besides receiving military training and weapons in the Gaddafi-sponsored camps, many of the young Tamasheq men were also exposed to revolutionary ideas, pan-Africanism, and popular music. In the decades to follow, the Tamasheq were involved in extended episodes of violence and rebellion against the various governments in the region, both as victim and perpetrator. The stories of socio-political unrest have been relayed through music, contributing to and partially shaping the Tamasheq people's culture and ideals.
''Ishumar''
The music of the young, uprooted men who often wandered from town to town was guitar-driven, first acoustic and then electric. These were the men referred to as ishumar, a term derived from the French word , a derogatory term for an unemployed person. The originators of the musical genre were Tinariwen, a group of musicians within camps sponsored by Gaddafi who formed their group in 1979. Tinariwen was the first Tamasheq group to feature electric guitars; they are considered the originator of the style. During rebellion against the government of Mali, Tinariwen's music was spread via audio cassette through the camps. In the early 1990s the group began to gain wider exposure through association with the French band Lo'jo. Additional distribution methods and festivals aided in increasing the styles popularity. As a result, other bands began to incorporate the style.
