Drifting across the acrid landscape of the Sahara Desert, flourishes of electric guitar and a throaty African dialect introduce us to the musical world of the Touareg people. Tinariwen (meaning “the Deserts” in the Touareg language) is a seven-piece band from the nomadic West African tribe whose traditional music has collided with modern rock ’n’ roll for the last 20 years to produce a truly unique strain of blues music that sounds at once modern and ancient; engaging, accessible and yet emerging from a world very much outside of our western framing.

One can still identify a definite swing to the rhythm and the presence of hot licks on Imidiwan that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Rolling Stones or a Howlin’ Wolf record, but ultimately the style is completely their own. In fact, the tribe, whose traditional music already shared some characteristics with the blues — widespread use of stringed instruments, focus on similar scales and keys, an emphasis on rhythm — was shook up in the ’60s and ’70s by the introduction of rock ’n’ roll and the electric guitar by French colonizers in and around the Sahara. The result, however, is anything but shaky, taking as inspiration the collective heartache of the Touareg people over their milllenias-long lack of a true homeland and the seemingly infinite darkness that exists just beyond the firelight, night after night.