words: Raquel Pinheiro
photos: Ricardo Silva
Calcutá, composer and multi-instrumentalist Teresa Castro from Porto, presented her debut album Soon After Dawn. Opening with
Fleeting Grace an infinitum drone in crescendo, from which, at a certain point, voice-sounds began to emerge.
There’s a mélange of baroque music, folk, and experimental in Calcutá’s sound, carried by eerie, hypnotic vocals. The voice is like another instrument moving through the music.
Calcutá is sparse, atmospheric, slow, drifting. Adjacent in texture to Tinariwen, but not in pulse, and, to me, closer to Sigur Rós in feeling.
The last song performed, Run Come Rally, had a different feeling. Almost a ballad, with a beautiful, more grounded guitar presence.
This year, Tinariwen came to present their new album Hoggar, named after the mountains in the Algerian Sahara.
Hoggar was recorded in Tamanrasset, Algeria, and features José González singing in Spanish on Imidiwan Takyadam, and Solafa Elyas singing in Arabic on Sagherat Assani, alongside Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, who moves between Tamasheq and Arabic.
Both Imidiwan Takyadam and Sagherat Assani were played, as well as four other songs from Hoggar: Amidinim Ehaf Solan, Erghad Afewo, Asstaghfero Allah, and N’ak tenere Iyat.
Tinariwen started slow with Alkhar Dessouf, but by the second song, Imidiwan Takyadam, the audience was already clapping along.
Clapping, standing up to dance, even moving into the side steps of the aisles, all became part of the performance, as is common in their concerts.
Whether as a sextet or septet, the band marveled with their syncopated rhythms, chants, and extraordinary use of three or four guitars, depending on the song.
Tempering the set between faster and slower moments, including the almost spoken Erghad Afewo, Tinariwen were as compelling as ever.
As José González sings in Imidiwan Takyadam we are all “navegando bajo lo mismo sol”.
Imidiwan Takyadam (feat. José González) English translation:
Tinariwen in Tamasheq
Friends,
See what has befallen you.
You’re scattered across
So many different lands
That you barely exist.
Have you forgotten your sisters,
Who you left behind,
Living under a hellish tyranny
That scalds every living heart?
This life is ever-changing,
And it prowls around those
Who are still alive.
José González
Don’t forget your sisters
Nor the mothers nor the daughters
With eyes cast to the ground
Sharing the same sky
Friends, lift your gaze
What are our chains?
Asking who we are
Sailing under the same sun
Looking at the same sky
Sailing under the same sun
Looking at the same sky
We live under the same sun
Asking who we are
Living under the same sun
Calcutá setlist:
Fleeting Grace (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Weep Valley (Over Night, 2017)
Eterno Retorno (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Mountain Valley (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Background of Purpose (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Run Come Rally (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Tinariwen setlist:
Alkhar Dessouf (Elwan, 2017)
Imidiwan Takyadam (Hoggar, 2026)
Le chant des fauve (Elwan, 2017)
N’ak tenere Iyat (Hoggar, 2026)
Kek Aghlam (Elwan, 2017)
Sagherat Assani (Hoggar, 2026)
Imidiwan Win Sahara (Aman Iman, 2007)
Asstaghfero Allah (Hoggar, 2026)
Amassakoul (Amassakoul, 2004)
Amidinim Ehaf Solan (Hoggar, 2026)
Tahoult (Emmaar, 2014)
Assawt (Amatssou, 2023)
Erghad Afewo (Hoggar, 2026)
Matadjen (Aman Iman, 2007)
Matenam (Amatssou, 2023)
Encore
Sastanàqqàm (Elwan, 2017)
Chaygibou (Amassakoul, 2004)
You can read our May 2025 review of Tinariwen concert at Casa da Música, in Porto here.
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 