Listen Down: Mdou Moctar Releases Video for New Track ‘Chismiten’, Signs to Matador Records

The Tuareg artist releases a single and video ahead full length album on Matador Records in 2021

By Mario Speedwagon

Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar has papered a record deal with Matador Records and released a new track titled ‘Chismiten.’ Thesong’s release has been paired with a premier of an accompanying video. The video is a confluence of illustrations by artist Robert Beatty along with medium- res cellphone footage shot in Niger — including the Agadez Mosque. The mosque is tallest mud-brick structure in the world and was built in the 1500’s. The video was co-produced by visual wizard Sabrina Nichols.

Moctar elaborated on the inspiration for the track in a statement:

“The song is about how people in a relationship lose their sense of self, they become jealous and envious of others,” Mdou Moctar said. “It is not about one specific person, but about all people in the world. I turn to Allah for guidance not to be that person.”

Originating in Niger, Moctar’s depth of experience ranges from performing at traditional weddings to singing songs about Islam, love, peace, and the human condition in the micro language of Tamashek. Tamasheq is a Malian variety of Tuareg, a Berber macro-language widely spoken by nomadic tribes across North Africa in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The artist is widely regarded as a guitar phenom. His band are no hacks either; he is accompanied by Ahmoudou Madassane on rhythm guitar, Michael Coltun on bass, and Souleymane Ibrahim on drums and backing vocals.

Mdou Moctar’s full length LP for Matador is expected in 2021. It will be the follow-up to 2019’s  Ilana: The Creator.

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