''Elwan'' is the seventh album by the

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern A ...

band

Tinariwen Tinariwen (Tamasheq: , with vowels , pronounced ''tinariwen'' "deserts", plural of ''ténéré'' "desert") is a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. Considered a pioneer of desert blues, the group's guita ...

, released in 2017. The title means "elephants" in

Tamashek Tamashek or Tamasheq is a variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Tamasheq is one of the three main varieties of Tuareg, the others being Tamaja ...

and the term is used as a metaphor for militias and corporations that have trampled the fragile natural and human ecosystems of the desert. The album was partially recorded in

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs, California, Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (''Yucca brevifolia'') native to t ...

(as was its predecessor '' Emmaar'') with additional recording in Paris, France and M'hamed El Ghizlane, Morocco. The album includes guest appearances by

Matt Sweeney Matt Sweeney (born July 2, 1969) is an American musician and record producer best known as a guitarist of Skunk, Chavez, and supergroup Zwan. Early life and education Sweeney was born in New Jersey. His father was John D. Sweeney, a professo ...

Kurt Vile Kurt Samuel Vile (born January 3, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is known for his solo work and as the former lead guitarist of rock band the War on Drugs. Both in the studio and during li ...

Mark Lanegan Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the St ...

, and

Alain Johannes Alain Johannes Mociulski (born May 2, 1962) is a Chilean-American multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, whose primary instruments are guitar and bass. He is a founding member of several bands, including the alternative rock group Eleven, and has ...

. One reviewer called the album "devastatingly beautiful," and another described the album as "musing on the values of ancestry, unity and fellowship, driven by the infectiously hypnotic cyclical guitar grooves that wind like creepers around their poetic imagery."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

named ''Elwan'' as one of the best albums of 2017.

Track listing

Note: Tracks 12–13 are bonus tracks in some editions of the album.

Personnel

All information from album liner notes. * Ibrahim Ag Alhabib – lead vocals and lead guitar (tracks 1, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11) * Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni – lead vocals and lead guitar (tracks 2, 3, 8, 9), backing vocals (all tracks) * Alhassane Ag Touhami – lead vocals and lead guitar (track 5), backing vocals (all tracks) * Eyadou Ag Leche – bass (all tracks), guembri (track 7), guitar (tracks 1, 6), backing vocals (all tracks) * Elaga Ag Hamid – guitar (all tracks), backing vocals (all tracks) * Said Ag Ayad – percussion (all tracks), backing vocals (all tracks) * Amar Chaoui – percussion (all tracks) * Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane – guitar (tracks 1, 4, 8, 11), backing vocals (track 4) * Mina Walet Oumar – you-yous (tracks 1, 7) * Abdul Wahab Cheich, M'Bark Bellal, Melghaynine Sifori – children’s backing vocals (track 2) * Abdelkader Ourzig, Tahar Khaldi, Hicham Bouhasse, Haiballah Akhamouk – backing vocals (track 4) * The Gangas de Tagounite – percussion (tracks 3, 6, 7, 10) *

– guitar (tracks 1, 11) *

– guitar (tracks 1, 8) *

– guitar (track 8) *

– vocals (track 11)

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2017 albums Tinariwen albums Anti- (record label) albums Desert blues albums