Desert blues
Tuareg desert rock bandTinariwen performing inNuremberg in 2010
Native name	Tishoumaren,assouf
Other names	Saharan rock Mali blues Tuareg rock
Stylistic origins	Malian music Tuareg music Berber music blues rock
Cultural origins	From 1980s to 1990s,Tuareg people inNorth Africa,West Africa andSahara regions
Typical instruments	electric guitar electric bass teherdent tende drum kit
Regional scenes
Mali Niger Algeria Western Sahara

Tishoumaren (ⵜⵉⵛⵓⵎⴰⵔⴻⵏ inNeo-Tifinagh script) orassouf,^[1] internationally known asdesert blues, is a style of music from theSahara region ofnorthern andwest Africa. Critics describe the music as a fusion ofblues androck music withTuareg,Malian orNorth African music.^[2] Various other terms are used to describe it^[1] includingdesert rock,Saharan rock,^[3]Takamba,^[2]Mali blues,^[4]Tuareg rock^[5] or simply "guitar music".^[6] The style has been pioneered byTuareg musicians in theSahara region, particularly inMali,Niger,Libya,Algeria,Burkina Faso and others; with it also being developed bySahrawi artists inWestern Sahara.^[7]

The musical style took shape as an expression of the culture of the traditionally nomadicTuareg people, amid their difficult sociopolitical situation, includingrebellions, widespread displacement and exile inpost-colonial Africa.^[7] The wordTishoumaren is derived from the French wordchômeur, meaning "the unemployed".^[1]

The genre was first pioneered by and popularized outside of Africa byAli Farka Touré and laterTinariwen. In recent years, artists likeMdou Moctar andBombino have continued to adapt Saharan rock music and have achieved international success.^{[8][2][3][9][7]}

TheTuareg people live in a region of North and West Africa that covers large portions of theSahara across the modern-day national boundaries ofMali,Algeria,Niger,Libya, andChad, and to a lesser extent, reaching intoBurkina Faso andNigeria. They had beennomadic pastoralists involved intrans-Saharan trade for many hundreds of years.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Tuareg were subjected toFrench colonial rule, after a lengthy resistance movement and defeatedrebellion. With thedeparture of colonial powers in the 1950s and 1960s, the lands inhabited by the Tuareg population were split primarily between the six new countries ofMali,Algeria,Niger,Libya,Burkina Faso andChad, making them ethnic minorities across the region. For the next few decades, natural resources diminished due to increasingdesertification and the Tuareg minorities have since been involved in a series ofconflicts and rebellions, creating hardship for the survival of Tuareg people and their culture.

In 1973, amajor drought forced many of theTamasheq-speaking people throughout the deserts to reconsider their traditional way of life as nomadic herders. Many took refuge in urban centers across the region, but with many lacking formal education, the Tamasheq were largely unemployed. The termishumar began to be used describing young Tamasheq. A unique culture began to arise among many of the economically and politically marginalized youths, sometimes rebellious or revolutionary in nature, reasserting a cultural pride.^{[citation needed]}

Many young men, including future members ofTinariwen, took employment in a Tamasheq military unit being assembled by Libyan military leaderMuammar al-Gaddafi.^[10] Besides receiving military training and weapons in the Gaddafi-sponsored camps, many of the young Tamasheq men were also exposed to revolutionary ideas,pan-Africanism, and popular music.^{[citation needed]} In the decades to follow, the Tamasheq were involved in extended episodes of violence and rebellion against the various governments in the region, both as victim and perpetrator. The stories of socio-political unrest have been relayed through music, contributing to and partially shaping the Tamasheq people's culture and ideals.^{[citation needed]}

The music of the young, uprooted men who often wandered from town to town was guitar-driven, first acoustic and then electric. These were the men referred to asishumar, a term derived from the French wordchômeur, a term for an unemployed person.^[11] The originators of the musical genre wereTinariwen, a group of musicians within camps sponsored by Gaddafi who formed their group in 1979.^[1] Tinariwen was the first Tamasheq group to feature electric guitars; they are considered the originator of the style. During rebellion against the government of Mali, Tinariwen's music was spread via audio cassette through the camps. In the early 1990s the group began to gain wider exposure through association with the French bandLo'jo.^[12] Additional distribution methods, particularly mp3s on mobile phones,^[13] and music festivals likeFestival au Désert, aided in increasing the styles popularity during the 2000s and 2010s.^[14]

The style mixeselectric blues with Middle Eastern and African sounds.^[15]

Songs are generally sung inTamasheq language.^[10][16] Lyrics have been described as being rooted in traditional Tuareg poetry, with topics including rebellion, war and beauty, and often mention the Sahara desert itself.^[1] Homesickness and longing for maintaining Tuareg traditions in the face of exile is also explored.^[3][16]

Musically, thetende drum and three-stringedteherdent Malian lute are the roots of the style.Chaabi music of the Maghreb is another influence.^[1] Many Saharan rock musicians have citedJimi Hendrix as a key influence, includingMdou Moctar, who has been described as the "Hendrix of the Sahara".^[16][17]

In recent years, some artists have further adapted the sound to introduce more typical Western rock instrumentation, such as replacing traditional percussion withdrum kits. The energetic music ofSonghoy Blues,Mdou Moctar,Amadou & Mariam, andBab L' Bluz has subsequently been labeled as "desert punk" andpsychedelic rock.^[18][19][20]Several fusion albums such as The West African Blues Project byTouré Kunda vocalist Modou Toure and British blues guitaristRamon Goose have provided further exploration mixing western-style blues with indigenous music from the Sahara and sub-Saharan regions. A new generation of desert blues artists such asTissilawen^[21] began emerging in the mid 2000s, continuing to gain popularity through 2025.^[22]

• African blues
• Festival au Désert
• Sahel Sounds
• The Rough Guide to Desert Blues
• The Rough Guide to African Blues

• Desert blues
• Berber music
• Music of North Africa
• Blues music genres
• Tuareg culture
• Rock music genres
• Moroccan styles of music
• Music of Mali
• Music of Niger
• Algerian styles of music
• Music of Libya

• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with text in Berber languages
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2021