Independiente: Tinariwen — Aman Iman: Water Is Life (Audio CD)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Independiente
• Artist: Tinariwen
• Title: Aman Iman: Water Is Life
• Release Year: 2006
• UPC: 5060006340222
• Catalog Number: ISOM65CDX
• Producer: Justin Adams
• Genre: World, African
• Style: Tuareg desert blues, Saharan rock
• Condition: New / Factory Sealed

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Tracks: 12
• Recorded at: Bogolan Studios, Bamako, Mali
• Engineered by: Ben Findlay
• Mixing & mastering: Justin Adams, Ben Findlay, Tim Oliver
• Made in the EU
• Language: Tamashek

Overview

Aman Iman: Water Is Life is the album that pushed Tinariwen from a word-of-mouth phenomenon into one of the most celebrated bands in world music. The title — "Water Is Life" in Tamashek — sets the tone: spare, hypnotic desert blues from a Tuareg collective whose history runs straight through the Sahara.

The sound is built on circular electric guitar lines, call-and-response vocals and a loping, trance-like pulse. Tracks like "Cler Achel," "Matadjem Yinmixan" and "Toumast" carry the weight of exile and survival without ever feeling heavy — the groove always wins.

Producer Justin Adams (a longtime Robert Plant collaborator) recorded the band at Bogolan Studios in Bamako, capturing the grit and space of their live sound rather than smoothing it over. The result is intimate and immediate.

This is the perfect entry point to Tinariwen and a record that helped open Western ears to Saharan music. For fans of blues, rock and roots music alike, it rewards repeat listening.

Interesting Facts

• Tinariwen formed among Tuareg exiles in the early 1980s; several founding members learned to play in refugee and military camps before turning fully to music.
• The band sings in Tamashek, the Tuareg language, and their songs often address displacement, homeland and the desert itself.
• Aman Iman was produced by Justin Adams, the British guitarist known for his work with Robert Plant and Jah Wobble.
• The album earned widespread critical acclaim and helped Tinariwen reach festival stages across Europe and North America.
• Tinariwen later won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for their 2011 record Tassili.
• The album was recorded in Bamako, Mali, at Bogolan Studios, with additional mixing and mastering completed in the UK.

Track Listing

1. Cler Achel — 4:25
2. Mano Dayak — 5:41
3. Matadjem Yinmixan — 5:43
4. Ahimana — 5:43
5. Soixante Trois — 4:56
6. Toumast — 4:25
7. Imidiwan Winakalin — 4:25
8. Awa Didjen — 4:11
9. Ikyadarh Dim — 3:35
10. Tamatant Tilay — 3:19
11. Assouf — 3:56
12. Izarharh Tenere — 5:02

Publishers

Released in 2006 by Independiente Ltd. (catalog ISOM65CDX). Produced by Justin Adams; executive producer Andy Morgan. Made in the EU.

Enjoyed this one? Leave a line — other desert-blues fans will thank you.