Mdou Moctar

Mdou Moctar – Funeral for Justice (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 39:04 minutes | 878 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Matador

‘Funeral For Justice’ is the new album by Mdou Moctar. Recorded at the close of two years spent touring the globe following the release of 2019 breakout ‘Afrique Victime,’ it captures the Nigerien quartet in ferocious form. The music is louder, faster, and more wild. The guitar solos are feedback-scorched and the lyrics are passionately political. Nothing is held back or toned down.. The songs on ‘Funeral For Justice’ speak unflinchingly to the plight of Niger and of the Tuareg people. “This album is really different for me,” explains Moctar, the band’s singer, namesake, and indisputably iconic guitarist. “Now the problems of terrorist violence are more serious in Africa. When the US and Europe came here, they said they’re going to help us, but what we see is really different. They never help us to find a solution.” Mdou Moctar in its current iteration is first and foremost a band. Alongside Moctar, it consists of rhythm guitarist Ahmoudou Madassane, drummer Souleymane Ibrahim, and American bassist and producer Mikey Coltun. The band got their start performing at traditional weddings. These are high energy events – amps are dialed up to 11 and the whole town is invited to attend. “I grew up in the DC punk scene and this is no different,” explains Coltun. “It’s a DIY punk show: people bring generators, they crank their amps. Things are broken, but they make it work.”

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Mdou Moctar – Niger EP Vol. 1 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 42:59 minutes | 490 MB | Genre: World, Desert Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Matador

Mdou Moctar has released a new set of songs titled Niger EP Vol. 1. The EP features alternate takes of “Chismiten” and “Imouhar” along with live versions of four other songs, recorded in Niger between 2017 and 2020.
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Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime (Deluxe Edition) (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:47 minutes | 1,32 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Matador

Tuareg psych-rock artist Mdou Moctar released his last album, Afrique Victime, in May, and now, he’s back with nine previously unreleased tracks from the album. The digital deluxe edition of Afrique Victime is out now via Matador Records.

“These are a mix of demos from Niger and some live tracks from touring around the world, when we were still working out the songs together as a band,” bassist and producer Mikey Coltun said of the album. “These are fun and different early versions of the songs.”
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Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:23 minutes | 922 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Matador

With Afrique Victime the prodigious Tuareg guitarist and songwriter rips a new hole in the sky – boldly reforging contemporary Saharan music and “rock music” by melding guitar pyrotechnics, full-blast noise, and field recordings with poetic meditations on love, religion, women’s rights, inequality, and Western Africa’s exploitation at the hands of colonial powers. The music listeners are the beneficiaries of the staggeringly powerful do-it-yourself musical ethic of Mdou Moctar – the man and the band – who’ve worked so hard to bring the spirits of families and communities in Niger to the West. Afrique Victime sounds and feels like a Tuareg hand reaching down from the sky, and we are very lucky for this chance to get lifted.

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Mdou Moctar – Niger EP Vol. 2 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 25:35 minutes | 306 MB | Genre: World, Desert Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Matador

Mdou Moctar has announced details of part two of the Niger EP series – featuring live and alternate versions of songs spanning the band’s discography recorded in their native Niger.

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