CELLPHONES is a collection of playlists containing political and revolutionary tunes from various places in the world. Music is the most powerful cultural expression and peoples have found numerous ways to express political dissent and visions for social, political, economic and cultural alternatives through this medium. Cell phones is not only a tool used by peoples to organize themselves, it is also a medium for storing, distributing and playing music.

The playlist containing Tuareg sounds is curated by Christopher Kirkly of www.sahelsounds.com - here is an introduction to the playlist: 

The Tuareg, or Kel Tamashek, are a semi-nomadic people with a historic
homeland that encompasses much of the Saharan desert of West Africa.
Contemporary society is divided over Algeria, Mali, Niger and Libya,
where the Tuareg are ethnic minorities inhabiting the most barren and
remote regions. Tuareg popular music has spread across the diaspora
with political messages that resonate throughout the respective
countries.

Engaged in continuous civil conflict throughout the 1960s, many Tuareg
fled their homes in Northern Mali. Ensuing droughts in the 1970s
exacerbated this movement and led many young men to abandon the
pastoral life. The young Tuareg foreigners who arrived in the cities
were known as ishumar, derived from french chomêur or "unemployed", a
pejorative for the jobless Tuareg wandering about the Saharan cities.
In the late 1970's, a group of ishumar from Northern Mali formed a
guitar band called Taghreft Tinariwen, playing guitar music that
addressed the diaspora with lyrics invoking common themes of nostalgia
and exile. The emerging Tuareg folk music, called guitar, featured one
or two guitarists accompanied by the traditional rhythm of the tendé.
It was highly influenced by Western rock music, notably Jimi Hendrix
and Dire Straits, as well as the guitar creations of Malian musician
Ali Farka Touré.

In the following decade, a political force emerged for Tuareg
independence. The leaders of this movement recruited the group
Taghreft Tinariwen to compose songs and supplied them with guitars,
transforming them into the propagandist arm of the rebellion. To
facilitate the transmission of this message, performances were
recorded and duplicated, distributed to ishumar to carry with them on
their travels. As a mobile force, young ishumar were the perfect
vehicle for transmission, firmly establishing the Tuareg guitar as a
collective folk style.

The agitprop recording studio and distribution model no longer exists
today and cassettes have been replaced with mp3s, carried on memory
cards and played on cellphones. Contemporary Tuareg folk music has
moved away from political action, to more conventional songs of love
and pop, integrating new musical techniques into the folk repertoire.
But as a new rebellion has shaken the North of Mali, the music has
regained its original purpose as transmission of political messages
and calls to arms - updated for the new media age.

Check out the other CELLPHONES playlists:

https://soundcloud.com/cellphonessenegal
https://soundcloud.com/cellphones-nepal
https://soundcloud.com/cellphones-tuareg
https://soundcloud.com/cellphones-guinea-bissau
https://soundcloud.com/cellphones-mauritania
https://soundcloud.com/cellphones-middleeast

TUAREG

Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy  ''African Skies'' (USA,1993) Captcha Records

Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy - Cohran Blues

Habib Koité & Eric Bibb - BROTHERS IN BAMAKO - 02 L.A.

La Doline/L’Andalouse/Clair Obscur

Bugge Wesseltoft & Dhafer Youssef - Hope (remix)

Buddha Spirit - Best Ibiza Chillout Bar Music & Luxury Lounge Music Summer Collection 2015

Sexy Lounge (Tantric Massage)

Be my Man (Speed Dating)

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