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LP
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GB 013LP
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Presenting a very special vinyl version of Agamgam 2004, the debut album from Niger's Tuareg sensation Bombino. The album has previously only been available as a digital download. By any measurement, the last couple of years have been an exhilarating ride for Bombino, culminating in 2013's album Nomad, which was produced by Dan Auerbach of the arena-filling Black Keys and was released to widespread acclaim. Agamgam 2004 is a beautiful contrast to the Nashville-recorded Nomad. This is Tuareg music in its most pure and unadulterated form. In late 2004, Bombino recorded acoustic versions of nine songs in the Ténéré desert, which became this, his first real album. He sings and plays several of his own compositions and also pays tribute to other Tuareg artists (Abdallah Oumbadougou, Hasso, Kedou). Recorded mostly around the campfire, his assembled friends join in on handclaps and undulations. Bombino himself picks up the story: "I worked as a guide or cook's helper and once the season ended, I bought a guitar and strings. I did that for some years, working wherever I could. In 2004, a Spanish team came to make a documentary film and organized a gathering in the Ténéré desert to the north of Agadez (Niger). I was there as a cook's assistant and in the evening would play guitar in the camp. They decided to record what we were playing in the desert, in the place that's called Agamgam. Since that's where the recording came from, I wanted it to have the name of the place where it was made. It was completed in two days." The rush of the desert wind, snippets of between-song conversation and the sound of grazing animals in the distance are essential elements of the album's deep atmosphere. Agamgam 2004 is not only an intimate, privileged view of Bombino's roots; it is also one of the most authentic documents of modern Tuareg music ever released. The Agamgam 2004 LP is beautifully re-mastered from the original recordings, housed in a gatefold sleeve and pressed on 180 gram vinyl. A download code is also included. The album is being released in conjunction with the French label Reaktion and has been directly licensed from Bombino.
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