Tinariwen have returned with “Hoggar”, their tenth studio album, released today via Wedge on vinyl, CD and digital. The record arrives with 11 tracks and guest appearances from José González and Sulafa Elyas, but one of its strongest entry points is “Erghad Afewo”, the band’s new single and video. More than a fresh clip to mark the album’s release, it opens a door into the record’s deeper concerns: fracture, betrayal, survival and the weight carried by Tuareg communities across generations.
Written by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, “Erghad Afewo” takes on division inside Tuareg society and the betrayal of those who sided with the enemy. The new animated clip by Axel Digoix and Wizz Production follows two Tuareg children growing up in a desert shaped by conflict and censorship, before music becomes their way of speaking back.
The song lands at the centre of Hoggar, a record that gives a wider frame to what Tinariwen are dealing with right now. On Bandcamp, the band describe the album as a meeting with a younger generation of Tuareg musicians, while recent coverage around the release has placed it in the context of violence, displacement and the pressure now bearing down on Tuareg communities across the region. The album was recorded in Tamanrasset, Algeria, in a studio built by the younger Tuareg band Imarhan, which gives the whole release an added sense of continuity instead of nostalgia.
“Erghad Afewo” is a sharp song on its own, but it also shows what “Hoggar” is doing as a whole. It carries anger, memory and internal criticism, while still sounding tied to the communal pulse that has always held Tinariwen together. “Hoggar” follows 2023’s “Amatssou” and was introduced earlier this year as the band’s tenth studio album, with the first preview coming through “Sagherat Assani”.
Watch the video for “Erghad Afewo” now.
