Kel Assouf
{{Short description|Music group from Niger and Belgium}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background = group_or_band
| name =
| image = Kel Assouf at Womad Fuerteventura.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| image_upright =
| landscape = yes
| alt =
| caption = Kel Assouf at the WOMAD, Fuerteventura, Canarias, Spain, (2016).
| alias =
| origin = Niger, Belgium
| genre = Rock, blues, blues-rock, tishoumaren, berber music
| years_active = {{Start date|2006}}–present
| label = Igloo, Glitterbeat
| spinoffs =
| spinoff_of =
| current_members = Anana Harouna
Olivier Penu
Alan Van Rompuy
Guillaume Palomba
| past_members = Aboubacar Harouna
Abdelwahab Hakem
Mama Wallet Amoumine
Olivier Crespel
Youba Dia
Esinam Dogbaste
| website = {{URL|www.kelassouf.com}}
| module =
| module2 =
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}}
Kel Assouf is a Tuareg musical group making "Tuareg rock" with electronic influences. The band's singer, songwriter, and guitarist is Anana Harouna. Kel Assouf, in Tamasheq, means "nostalgia" and "son of eternity".
Career
Anana Harouna was born in Niger and lived in Libya during the Tuareg rebellion of the early 1990s, like the band members of Tinariwen, with whom he has performed. He formed Kel Assouf while arriving in Brussels in 2006. Oliver Penu, who plays drums on the third album, Black Tenere (2019), is Belgian,{{cite news |url=https://www.fip.fr/musiques-du-monde/exclu-fip-fransa-le-rock-sous-tension-de-kel-assouf-13968 |publisher=Radio France |accessdate=14 November 2020 |date=4 February 2019 |title=Exclu FIP : "Fransa" le rock sous tension de Kel Assouf |first=Guillaume|last=Schnee |language=fr}} and Sofyann Ben Youssef is a Tunisian who produced the albums Tikounen (2016) and Black Tenere; he also plays keyboards to add bass lines, and occasionally plays frame drum in live performances.
Their third album, Black Tenere, released in 2019 employs drum lines from the Roland TR-808 and heavy guitar riffs.{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/29fd01be-2568-11e9-8ce6-5db4543da632 |title=Kel Assouf: Black Tenere — an electronic take on the Tuareg ‘guitar’ sound |newspaper=Financial Times |accessdate=3 February 2020 |first=David |last=Honigmann |date=8 February 2019}} Robin Denselow, writing in The Guardian, gave Black Tenere four out of five stars, describing the music as "how the music of the Sahara sounds once it has migrated to Europe and fused with other influences".{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/09/kel-assouf-review-rich-mix-london |date=9 May 2016 |accessdate=3 February 2020 |first=Robin |last=Denselow |authorlink=Robin Denselow |newspaper=The Guardian |title=Kel Assouf review – Saharan blues in a leather jacket and jeans}}
Discography
- 2010: Tin Hinane (Igloo Records)
- 2016: Tikounen (Igloo Records/SOWAREX)
- 2019: Black Tenere (Glitterbeat Records)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official|https://www.kelassouf.com/}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Nigerien rock music groups
Category:Belgian rock music groups
Category:Belgian blues musical groups