Mdou Moctar is a band led by Mahamdou Souleymane, known professionally as Mdou Moctar, a Tuareg songwriter from Niger. Their music is primarily in Tamasheq, a Tuareg dialect spoken primarily by nomadic tribes across North Africa. First gaining notoriety though cell-phone music networks, Mdou Moctar gained their first taste of international acclaim through the pscyh-rock album Ilana (The Creator), released in 2019. The band released Afrique Victime in May of this year to rave reviews. Mdou Moctar, with bandmates Ahmoudo Madassane (guitar, vocals), Souleymane Ibrahim (drums, vocals), and American Michael Coltun (production, bass, vocals), use “assouf” (desert blues music) to explore themes of imperialism, war crimes, and of course, romance.
This was my first show in person in over a year and a half and I was really psyched to be back. The opening act out of Carrboro, NC, Speed Stick took this enthusiasm and pumped it up to 11. They played a high-energy set consisting of two drummers and two guitarists, no vocalists, all fully-masked for the duration of the set. The group created a fire storm of deafening noise, and I fell into a trance just watching the drummers do their work. I don’t normally listen to this type of music, but live, in front of an audience, their energy was captivating.
Now for the main act. By the point the opener had finished, Motorco was packed, all seats on the left side filled and the standing room sardined. Thankfully, Motorco required vaccination for all attendees, especially needed as this was a sold-out show. All the band members came out wearing matching light blue attire and jumped right into it. They played tracks off of their latest release, though with more improvisations and solos than the studio recordings. The titular leader of the group Moctar riffed and improvised on almost every song, keeping and building on the energy established by Speed Stick. In the past, some have likened Moctar’s guitar work and Eric Clapton’s, and with his extemporizing in this show, he validates such comparisons. Disappointingly, there were no solos from any of the other three band members. Obviously Moctar leads the group, but one of my favorite parts of seeing a band live is hearing unique solos from each instrumentalist. It was an exhaustive show, going for over an hour, with the band using their scarfs to wipe sweat between the Tuareg tracks. The crowd was loving the show, with everyone dancing to the songs, though seemingly no one had memorized any Tamasheq lyrics to try to sing along.
Other than a single “Hello”, there was no direct audience engagement, which is another personal preference I have for live shows. It makes the show feel like a one-off, and that the band is as excited as I am to be there. My favorite live-rendition was Afrique Victime, the titular track off the record, a message directly against colonialism such as French control of Niger and many parts of North Africa. Played live, the band forwent some of these lyrics and Moctar instead roamed the stage played Hendrix-esque solos, the best of the night and also the last of the night. The band, sans Moctar himself, for an encore performance, just some mellow instrumentals. It was a bit unclear at this point if Moctar was going to emerge again (he did not), and this felt like a bit of valley rather than a mountain to end on.
In conclusion, this was a great show. My few complaints lie in no audience interaction, no instrumentalist solos, and a weak closer. But in the end, they are great performers playing a great album, and I’m just excited to be able to attend shows again.
Rating: 4/5
Favorite track: Afrique Victime
