Bombino new album "Azel" out April 1

Bombino has announced his third studio album, Azel, will be released on April 1, 2016 on Partisan Records. As part of the announce, he has shared a video for album track "Inar" and interview with Rolling Stone. The video was filmed at Applehead Studio in Woodstock, New York where Bombino & Longstreth recorded the new album.

Applehead, a converted barn on farmland where goats, pigs, and other animals roam freely, was base of operations for the band. The group stayed in a guest house on the property, and took turns making meals. Apart from a morning invasion by a 700-pound pig, Applehead was the perfect atmosphere for Bombino and his group to create new music over the course of 10 days. Longstreth proved to be a fantastic match for Bombino as this album's producer. He has a deep respect for the Saharan music tradition and guided their sessions with a gentle but skilled hand.

Longstreth said of the recording sessions, "I finally met Bombino last fall, walking into the sprawling barn studio in upstate New York where we'd record Bombino's third studio album, Azel. There he was, relaxing on the couch, conversing in Tamasheq with his bandmates behind a barely perceptible smile. He was wearing a blue bubu, the traditional Tuareg formal attire, and bobbing his head along to the playback from studio's stately Genelecs. Though he speaks Tamasheq, Arabic and French, he rarely speaks at all. Instead, he plays the guitar.

And play, by Jove, he does. Bombino rarely does more than one or two takes, because he doesn't need to. I've seen him lay down a six-minute acoustic improvisation, and then double-track it instantly and flawlessly, with no punches. His playing is effortless, endless. His playing is technical - virtuoso is the right word - but the technique isn't what you notice about it: what you notice is the feeling, and the tone. It feels punk that way."

Longstreth's full note about how he discovered Bombino's music and their time recording together is available here.

Fans of Bombino and Tuareg music in general will notice a few remarkable innovations on this album. The first is the introduction of a new style Bombino is pioneering that he affectionately calls 'Tuareggae' - a sunny blend of Tuareg blues/rock with reggae one-drop and bounce. Another is the first-ever use of Western vocal harmonies in recorded Tuareg music (due to Longstreth's influence), which give the songs new depth and color. Finally, the band behind him is tighter and more energetic than ever before. The result is Bombino's best, most well-rounded, and groundbreaking album to date: Azel.

The word "Azel" has three meanings in Bombino's native Tamasheq language - first, it is the name of a small desert town just a few kilometers from where he grew up, in Agadez, Niger. His wife's family is from Azel, and it is the site of the first and only Tuareg school in the country. Bombino has long held aspirations of developing a Tuareg community center and arts school in Agadez, so the town of Azel holds a special place in his heart. Second, the word azel means the roots or stems of a tree. This album is a reflection of Bombino's unique place in Tuareg music where he at once honors the traditional roots of the music while also taking it into brand new territory, hence the roots and the stems. Finally, the word azel is also slang in Tamasheq, loosely the equivalent of 'That's my jam!' in American English. The significance of that meaning should be instantly obvious to anyone who listens to this album.

Azel's standout tracks include "Timtar" (Memories), "Iyat Ninhay / Jaguar" (A Great Desert I Saw) and leadoff "Akhar Zaman" (This Moment), each addressing the central cultural and emotional themes of the album. "Akhar Zaman" urgently decries the slow erosion of Tuareg culture. Over a driving beat, handclaps and filigreed guitars, Bombino sings, "The morality, dignity, and generosity of our parents have been replaced by materialism / Our ancestral language and alphabet are threatening to disappear and our dearest practices are losing their place." "Timtar" ponders the question, "What is the value of a relationship when it separates two connected hearts?" And the epic, sprawling "Iyat Ninhay" transports the listener to the desert, directly through the eyes of Bombino - "If you travel through this land without water, there are only three things that will save you: To climb down through the dunes, to follow tracks, or to know how to find your way by looking at the stars."

Bombino will embark on a US headline tour, first stopping in Austin for a series of SXSW performances and then on throughout March into the end of April. These dates include the Apollo Theater in New York, Slingshot Festival in Athens, and Big Ears Festival in Knoxville with more to be announced.