Tinariwen & Carlos Santana : Amassakoul May 2026

When Carlos Santana invited Tinariwen to his "My Blues Is Deep" night at Montreux, it wasn't just a celebrity cameo. For Santana, hearing Tinariwen was like hearing the very "beginning of the music of the Mississippi".

The studio version is a masterpiece of "Assouf" (the Tuareg blues)—a hypnotic blend of interlocking guitar lines that mimic the steady, swaying gait of a camel. It’s music born from exile and rebellion, carrying the weight of the desert's "sacred darkness". A Meeting of Guitar Mystics Tinariwen & Carlos Santana : Amassakoul

To understand the power of this collaboration, you have to understand the song. "Amassakoul" is the title track of Tinariwen’s breakout 2004 album, and in their native Tamashek language, it means . When Carlos Santana invited Tinariwen to his "My