Koudede, the Touareg
Born in Agadez (Niger), Koudede grew up in Arlit, between the foothills of the massif of Aïr and the sands of the Sahara, in the dust of the uranium mines… He made his first guitar from a tin can, and as soon as he could get hold of a real one, already had a sufficiently developed technique to accompany musicians such as Abdallah Oumbadougou (Takrist ‘n’ Akal). After spending time in Algeria and Libya, he migrated to Agadez, the Touareg capital, and in typical nomad fashion started to travel around the Sahel region, following the calendar of family celebrations and community festivals. He played for a time with other Touareg musicians before finding his wings and composing his own original songs. He came to the notice of the public for the first time at the ‘Cure Salée’ festival (lit: ‘salt cure’), where his ‘rhythm’ – in other words his skill at making people dance – was much remarked upon.

Koudede’s music
Based on a traditional ternary rhythmic structure - typical of nomad dances, variants of which are found all around the desert region – Koudede’s music takes its origin from the ‘tende’ - the Touareg drum, which is played stretched across two pieces of horizontal wood.

Initially used like the ‘tehardent’ (three chord guitar), Koudede exploits the full harmonic range of his guitar, although he has developed his own individual style, which is specific to the African guitar. It goes without saying that when Koudede plays, nobody stays sitting down.

Koudede’s texts
Based on Touareg poetry - which like all nomadic poetry, recounts primarily what the traveller sees around him – Koudede’s texts are arranged in the form of repeated refrains, picking up and developing proverbs, advice or parables over the course of the verses. His songs speak of young married life; camels; virtues such as patience; children’s games; of distant Touareg camps and difficult loves. Sometimes there is anger – against cowardice, laziness, corruption or unjust wars. But Koudede’s music is not about narrow moralising or inciting crowds – unless, of course, it is in order to make them dance….