Listen to Mdou Moctar get loose on new single ‘Imouhar’

Mdou Moctar has shared his explosive new single ‘Imouhar’ – the latest taste of his upcoming new album. Watch the video below.

The Niger musician will release the full-length ‘Funeral For Justice’ on May 3 via Matador, and has previously released the album’s title track as its lead single.

‘Imouhar’ has been written in tribute to the Tamasheq language, native to the Tuareg people to which Moctar belongs. Check out the song’s video, directed by Laura Greenhall, here:

The track opens with a restrained, deep groove before erupting into a searing, ’60s-flavoured electric guitar frenzy, with Moctar and band cutting loose for the bulk of the track’s running time.

Moctar is thought to be one of the last people who can write in Tamasheq, and the language is considered to be at risk of dying out.

“People here are just using French,” the musician has said. “They’re starting to forget their own language. We feel like in a hundred years no one will speak good Tamasheq, and that’s so scary for us.”

Moctar and his backing band will be playing a series of European festivals this summer, including Glastonbury, End of the Road, Manchester Psych Fest and Moseley Folk Festival. He will also play a number of headline UK shows.

Mdou Moctar’s upcoming headline UK dates are:

JULY
3 – London, Electric Brixton

SEPTEMBER

2 – Glasgow, Saint Luke’s
3 – Newcastle, Boiler Shop
4 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club

In August last year, the musician launched a GoFundMe page to help him and his band to remain in the United States, amid a coup in their homeland of Niger.

The group were in America on tour at the time, and found themselves unable to return home following a military coup d’état in their home country, and it raised over $110,000 (£87,000).

“We are so appreciative of our fans and community and their unending support and are so appreciative of whatever you are able to do to help us in this unprecedented and scary time,” the band wrote in response to the generosity. “Thank you so much. The link can be find in our bio.”

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