Tuareg Guitar Master Bombino Back in Portland
Mike Rubin of The New York Times recently described a performance by Bombino: “On a recent night in Williamsburg, an ecstatic crowd jammed the dance floor of the club Brooklyn Bowl to see one of the world’s greatest living blues guitarists. He doesn’t hail from the Mississippi Delta or Chicago’s South Side, but from the dusty outpost of Agadez, Niger, in the Sahara. Oumara Moctar, better known as Bombino, is already a star among the Tuareg — the nomadic Berbers who traverse the countries along the desert — and as he releases his sixth album, Deran, he’s on the verge of becoming one internationally.”
North African desert blues (or tichumaren in Tamasheq, the Tuareg language), has become arguably the most successful world music genre to break through since reggae, and few have wielded the guitar with such mastery and majesty as Bombino. His spellbinding virtuosity and urgently dynamic live shows have made fans of fellow musicians from Keith Richards and Robert Plant to Josh Homme and Win Butler, and built him a following that’s crossed over from the world music community to the jam-band circuit.”
Bombino played at the 2014 Waterfront Blues Festival, amazing blues fans with his guitar prowess as he has done repeatedly around the world and at subsequent shows in Portland since. A direct link between the music of Africa and modern blues.
Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. Friday, March 29, 9:00 pm. $25.00 Ticketweb.com. 21 & over.
