Hoggar

After touring internationally in support of their previous album Amatssou, members of Tinariwen were forced to flee their home base in northern Mali and relocate to Algeria, due to Russian-backed mercenaries with the Wagner Group participating in the area's long-running ethnic conflicts. Members of Tinariwen are among many residents of the region that have been displaced by the recent conflicts, and many of the album's lyrics discuss these events. The album was recorded in Tamanrasset, Algeria, a former home of founding member Ibrahim Ag Alhabib. The album was produced by Patrick Votan, who structured the album as a showcase of the multiple generations of musicians and singers who have participated in Tinariwen recordings since the collective was founded in the late 1970s. Founding members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, and Alhassane Ag Touhami sing on each other's songs after not having done so for the past several albums, while early member Liya Ag Ablil participated for the for the first time in more than two decades. The song "Sagherat Assani" is a tribute to former member Mohammed "Japonais" Ag Itlale, who died in 2021. Younger members of the collective were given enhanced roles to "pass the torch onto a younger generation.” While women have provided backing vocals for Tinariwen periodically over the group's career, Hoggar adds prominence to women's vocals to highlight the recent difficulties faced by Tuareg women in music. ==Critical reception ==

Music Custodian described the album as "cultural testimony" on the ongoing conflicts in the group's homeland, and as "a marker of continuity" connecting the past and future visions of the colective. In the words of Spectrum Culture, Hoggar "feels like a fresh start for Tinariwen as well as a deepening and a refinement of what has made the Bedouin [sic] supergroup such an international sensation." Far Out described the album as one of Tinariwen's best, and concluded "You sense them all sitting around a campfire, passionately calling for change in these touching songs of unrest, wearied by how often they have been called to carry the torch for peace, but emboldened by the wisdom of age and the will of the ways of the world." ==Track listing==

• Ibrahim Ag Alhabib – lead vocals and lead guitar (tracks 2, 3, 5, 8, 10), backing vocals (all tracks) • Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni – lead vocals and lead guitar (tracks 6, 7, 11), backing vocals (all tracks) • Alhassane Ag Touhami – lead vocals and lead guitar (track 1, 9), backing vocals (all tracks) • Eyadou Ag Leche – bass, backing vocals (all tracks) • Elaga Ag Hamid – guitar, backing vocals (all tracks) • Sanou Ag Ahmed – guitar, backing vocals (all tracks) • Said Ag Ayad – percussion, backing vocals (all tracks) • Haiballah Akhamouk – percussion, backing vocals (all tracks) • Anana Harouna, Nounou Kaola, Wonou Walet Sidati, Hardou, Djelle – backing vocals, claps (all tracks) • Liya Ag Ablil – guitar (track 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10) • José González – vocals, guitar (track 2) • Emile Papandreou – e-bow (track 3) • Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane – lead vocals, lead guitar (track 4) • Abdelkader Ourzig – guitar (tracks 4, 6) • Sulafa Elyes – vocals, oud (track 6) • Hicham Bouhasse – guitar (track 9) == References ==