Tunng & Tinariwen - De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-On-Sea - 18/3/09
3/5
By: Hayley Leaver
[TINARIWEN]
Upon immediate arrival to the De La Warr Pavilion in a sleepy - well, dead - Sussex town, it was as though we'd ambled into a highly middle class and pretentious art exhibition. However, it's for an unusual compound of world music and 'folktronica' that the treacherous journey to Bexhill was made.
The result of a Radio Three 'Late Night Junction' session, Tunng join forces with West African band Tinariwen in a World-Music-meets-Experimental-Folk mangle. One half of the unlikely combination, Tinariwen are essentially unknown in the UK despite having been going strong since 1982 with their songs of independence and struggle. Tunng are far more renowned, with their use of unusual instruments to produce dreamy swoonings of summer, campfires and other such sentiments.
It's with great intrigue that we end up in this strange venue for a strange collaboration, and as Tinariwen make their way on stage clad from head to toe in tradition Tuareg clothing, the oddness doesn't lessen. Lead singer Abdallah Ag Alhousenyni stands proud at the front of the cluttered stage, backed by his band's soulful melody, his undeniably melancholy vocals powering across the hall. Tunng then join the show, zipped up to the eyeballs in American Apparel hoodies in some sort of homage to their newly found comrades onstage.
[TUNNG]
Annoying fashion statements aside, Tunng pipe in with their chirpy 'folktronica' in a seamless fusion which instantly changes Tinariwen's chanted desert blues into a mellifluous but edgy ballad. It's clear that the ensemble is a barely-rehearsed one, with Tunng's Mike Lindsay explaining that it's been 'a crazy few days' trying to string together a set of wholly different music with no common language. At times Tinariwen are left looking slightly uncomfortable and redundant when beginnings of songs are forgotten or chord changes mistaken, but for the most part the collaboration has great potential to compliment either music style.
Abdallah's frequent outbursts of "That ok?" throughout the set only emphasised the apprehension felt by both groups, but they needn't have worried. Tunng's 'Take' is immediately thrust into a more mysterious vein with Tinariwen pulsing their own African blues into the folk. Any doubts as to whether the music would wind up being a power struggle or an awkward jumble were unfounded - the combination undoubtedly needs more than a few days' rehearsal, but it worked.
Even throughout the encore the audience showed no problems with the lack of preparation or the sheepish apologies for either band's mistakes. Both entirely different sounds are lapped up by the crowd with more 'Mum dancing' then the inevitable Abba medley at the drunken end of a wedding reception.
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