Amidst all the depressing developments in the music industry, you still find the odd bright spot – such as the fact that there's actually an audience for Tuareg desert rock these days. Hot on the heels of Tinariwen's performance at Fuji Rock, compatriot Omara 'Bombino' Moctar is bringing his hypnotic guitar excursions to Tokyo as part of the Sukiyaki Tokyo 2011 festival. Western listeners got their first taste of Bombino's music on the Sublime Frequencies compilation Guitars from Agadez Vol. 2 in 2009, but he returned earlier this year with a proper studio album, Agadez, and it sounds fantastic. He's supported by Orange Pekoe guitarist Kazuma Fujimoto, who's currently touring an impressive solo record of his own, Sun Dance.
Sukiyaki Tokyo continues with Kaushiki Chakrabarty Desikan, Aug 23 & Amazigh Kateb, Aug 24