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ANEWAL turns childhood memory into new album,TIMCHAR Produced in Douala byMakassi pioneer Sam Fan Thomas; first single“Zennemigazat” arrives 7 August 2026Artist:ANEWAL (Alhousseini Mohamed Anivolla)Album release: 10 October 2026 via World Music Network
World Music Network (WMN) will releaseTIMCHAR, the new album by Nigerien Tamashek songwriter and multiinstrumentalist ANEWAL, on 10 October 2026. Recorded in Douala with Cameroonian producer andMakassi pioneer Sam Fan Thomas, the tensong album begins its release journey with“Zennemigazat” on 7 August, followed by a second single on 4 September.
ANEWAL means “walking man,” a name Alhousseini Mohamed Anivolla inherited from his grandfather. YetTIMCHAR began with stillness. After stepping away from touring and spending nearly three years in Douala, he met Sam Fan Thomas in Akwa, commercial quarter close to the port of Douala — the musician he had first encountered decades earlier through Niger’s public television.
“I remember watching Sam on Niger public TV, in black and white, and we all wanted to dance like him,” ANEWAL recalls in the album’s liner notes.
That childhood memory became a working relationship at StudioMakassi. Sam Fan Thomas produced the record andadds voices to“Zennemigazat,” while ANEWAL’s grainy vocal, cyclical guitar writing and intimate performance remain at the centre. Additional recording in Berlin with TundeAgonglo carries the Douala sessions into another city without losing their human scale.
A Pioneer of Nigerien Desert Blues
Before ANEWAL, there was Alhousseini Mohamed Anivolla — one of the foundational architects of Nigerien desert blues. As cofounder ofEtran Finatawa, he helped define and internationalize the genre from 2004 to 2015, years before artists such as Bombino,TamikrestorImarhan reached global stages. His guitar style, praised by Nigel Williamson (Songlines) as“the No. 1 desert blues guitarist” in 2012, became a reference point for the sound of the Sahel. His musicwere: “As expansive as the Sahara itself" wroteSonglines back in April 2017.
WithEtran Finatawa, Alhousseini opened major stages across45 countries, bringing Tuareg andWodaabe musical traditions to audiences worldwide and establishing desert blues as a vibrant, globally recognized genre. His capacity to develop new musical approaches — beginning with the unprecedented union of two ethnic groups inEtranFinatawa — has continued throughout his career. Collaborations with artists such as Guy Buttery,HuunHuurTu andGirumMezmur reflect a creative life defined by curiosity, exchange and the search for new musical languages.
TIMCHAR: Memory in Motion
The titleTIMCHAR means “things that have gone.” Dedicated to ANEWAL’s mother and to the transmission of Tamashek culture, the album looks at memory as something lived rather than sealed away: personal history enters new rooms, new relationships and new rhythm.
Alhousseini first reached international audiences throughEtran Finatawa, and later through solo projects includingWalking Man,Osas andAfropentatonism. Across these works, his music returns to identity, hospitality, peace and the possibility of exchange without erasing roots.TIMCHAR continues that line through a precise encounter between Niger, Douala and Berlin — a meeting shaped by reflection, time and the willingness to let new creative relationships transform the music.
After years of touring, Alhousseini chose to pause, listen and rebuild. The Douala residency with Sam Fan Thomas offered space for deep artistic dialogue, andTIMCHAR is the outstanding result: analbum where desert blues meets Makassi, where memory becomes movement, and where a pioneer of the Sahel opens yet another door in a career defined by bold encounters.
ANEWAL's new single "Zennemigazat" drops on 7 August 2026 via World Music Network.
