Niger's Tuareg rockstar Omara "Bombino" Moctar is in Australia for the third time on the back of this year's album Deran.
I like that the Brisbane show took place at The Foundry in Fortitude Valley. So often, artists from non-English speaking countries are treated as cultural experiences to be had for expensive prices at fancy concert halls. But the music of Bombino is at its core rock music, and I think it belongs in the sticky carpet dancefloors where rock music is best experienced.
The crowd was pretty eclectic - there were certainly a few older culture vultures who somehow managed to resist moving their feet to the grooves of Bombino's band. But it mostly seemed a younger crowd, with a diversity of ethnic backgrounds, and there was plenty of dancing to be seen. The long and narrow gig room of The Foundry was probably half full.
Before getting to Bombino, the opening act was the Benjamin Walsh Remix Experiment - a one-man band of drums and electronic sounds made with his voice and movement assisted by a number of microphones and effects. Even with Walsh's handy tutorials between songs it was never exactly clear how all the sounds were being made, but it was certainly an impressive technical feat. It was a bit of an odd choice for opening act, and so he had a tough time winning over the crowd but did a pretty good job and certainly played a creative and unique form of music.
After a suspense-building break Bombino took to the stage with the band. Both Omara and the rhythm guitarist looked amazing in their Tuareg robes and scarf/turbans. The bass player is apparently from France (he did most of the crowd interaction - I don't think Bombino speaks much English) but looked to be of Southern African heritage, while the drummer was a white guy in thick-rimmed glasses who looked slightly out of place but showed some serious chops playing those African polyrhythms all night (the difficulty of which was evident from the sweat pouring off him by the end of the night).
Those rhythms are key to the Tuareg sound - the style of rock music developed by the nomadic Sahara people and made most famous by Tinariwen. The bass is funky and the rhythm guitar plays short, choppy chords, while lead guitar stretches out endlessly like desert sand, adding another layer of rhythm more than it is a melodic instrument.
Bombino's own variation on the sound is a bit more uptempo and intense. While Tinariwen are reminiscent of the blues, the main Western reference point for Bombino is psychedelic rock. And watching the set, I reflected on the fact that Omara was living out the dream of every bedroom guitar shredder - soloing all the way through every song.
It doesn't feel self-indulgent at all though - the difference was notable at the end of the set when each band member took their obligatory solo. Bombino's playing exists as the centrepiece of this intoxicatingly rhythmic, repetitive music. His singing as well is often like a chant - especially to those of us who don't speak Tamasheq language, it seems like a mantra adding another rhythmic layer.
With the set passing in seemingly no time, the band indulged the crowd and came back for an encore. It actually seemed as if they could have happily played forever. The Foundry had a late show on afterwards and I saw the soundman nervously look at his watch. But it did finish, leaving a happy crowd basking in a wonderful performance and hoping more artists from that extraordinary musical continent of Africa can find their way out here on our stages.
Andy Paine