Imarhan's Top 5 Songs Right Now

EDITOR’S NOTE: No Depression’s new “Top 5” series, which kicked off last fall, features a quick playlist in which roots musicians share what they’re listening to at the moment. It gives artists the chance to highlight their contemporaries, as well as classic songs getting them through the days. This installment comes from Algerian roots-rock band Imarhan, whose fourth album, Essam, came out January 16 via City Slang.

There’s a word for the kind of music indigenous to West Africa — assouf. Bands like Tinariwen (ND review) and Mdou Moctar (ND review) both play this style of music and have helped broaden its acceptance and popularity around the world. The people of this region, the Tuareg, are predominantly nomadic and pastoral; their communities often move across the Saraha, especially between Niger, Mali, Algeria, and Burkina Faso.

On their fourth album, Essam, Algeria-based, blues-rock-assouf band Imarhan continues to build upon these traditional, yet progressive sounds. Comprised of guitarist and vocalist Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane (Sadam), bassist Tahar Khaldi, guitarists Hicham Bouhasse and Abdelkader Ourzig, and percussionist Haiballah Akhamouk, Imarhan formed in 2006. They’ve toured internationally and collaborated with Western bands like Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb, and opened up for Kurt Vile.

Essam, which translates to “lightning” in the Tuareg language Tamasheq, feels like a fitting title. The new record does seem to capture lightning in a 10-track metaphorical bottle: It is at once frenetic and meditative, acoustic and programmed. So too do the lyrics tell of the dichotomous nature of straddling such ancient and futuristic times. As Sadam sings on tracks like “Azaman Amoutay,”