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by World Music Network August 08, 2012

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New Release: Alhousseini Anivolla - Stream Free Track

On the 13 August 2012 Riverboat Records releases Alhousseini Anivolla's debut solo album Anewal/The Walking Man

Alhousseini Anivolla's music explores traditional music of his homeland and the cultural exchange of African-American blues genres. 

The album was recorded in Niamey, the capital of Niger and evokes the spirit of desert blues. The desert blues is a term for West African styles fusing with traditional musics of African-American blues and African pop styles. Other pioneers of this genre include Malian bluesman Ali Farka Touré and the Tuareg blues-rock band Tinariwen. Listen out for the guitar style of ichumarwhich was developed during 1970s by the Tuareg. 


Listen / Buy the Album


Alhousseini is a well travelled musician and has performed in venues across the world. One particular culture he found an immediate affinity to was with the Maori people of New Zealand because of the similarities in their performances of traditional music and dance with the common values of the Tuareg. 

The album's main theme focuses on his connections to his ancestral elders and his community. The track 'Emassli Na Taregh' demonstrates Alhousseini's personal connection with his ancestors and features a traditional musical bow to express this. The title of the track 'Iblis Odouad' translates as 'Demons Are Showing Up' . Alhousseini explains 'When the sun is coming down...you hear all the demons talking at once in different languages. You feel alone, isolated and so homesick if you are not surrounded by your dear ones at this time.' Home for Alhousseini is not dictated by place but by community and being with his loved ones. 


'Imoussanan' is the opening track of the album.  Alhousseini explores melting guitar lines, a heavy rock beat and darkly toned voice. In this track he asks his ancestors to continue providing wisdom and advice to the new generation of youths. 


In 2004 Alhousseini joined Etran Finatawa and the quintet later produced three popular albums with World Music Network. Two distinct nomadic cultures were united for this peaceful collaboration including members of the Wodaabe and Tuareg ethnic groups. Alhousseini is a nomad of the Tuareg heritage. He used the traditional calabash and tendé drums alongside groove-based guitar and choral polyphony. On Anewal/The Walking Man Alhousseini performs each composition on his own.The album Anewal/The Walking Man is an account of Alhousseini's personal journey across the desert, to the city and to the world stage.