Last year, the members of Mdou Moctar convened in Niger to complete their then-unfinished album, Funeral For Justice, and to capture a series of live sets in the region surrounding Agadez, a historically important hub.
Today, we are posting the first of these sessions: The Agadez Folders: Live at Sultan’s Palace. It features Mdou Moctar performing a complete electric live set at the King’s Palace in the city’s center. The band are joined by traditional dancers, swordsmen, and upwards of 20 camels with the Agadez Grand Mosque visible against the horizon.
Producer and bass player Mikey Coltun on The Agadez Folders: Live at Sultan’s Palace:
In Mdou Moctar, it is not out of the ordinary for well-laid plans to collapse at the last-minute. For example, this happens a lot with flights being canceled. Maybe one of us doesn’t get a visa to travel somewhere in time. Maybe all of us don’t. Maybe someone at the embassy in Niger puts the visa sticker on page #1 – you know, that important page that has all your personal information like your name or birthday. As a result, we’ve all gotten good at reacting and maneuvering, and adapting an initial plan into something … even better!
When we got to Agadez winter of 2023, the first thing we did was drive around all together and scope out locations. We walked up a small building that overlooked the famous Agadez mosque and said ‘Alright, we’re gonna film here as the sun comes up.’ Another idea was to film under a well known bridge that connects the road from Agadez to Arlit – ‘Let’s set up a generator and play here! The kids will love it.’ Those were two examples that didn’t end up happening because it was either not allowed or we overslept. That’s where the creative part comes in.
On our way to film at a location out in the bush, Mdou suddenly stops the car to talk to a guy walking a couple camels. They exchanged numbers. Unbeknownst to me, Mdou was plotting to get 50 camels to show up at the king of Agadez’s palace where the famous Agadez mosque is.
This was an idea we had discussed, but much like some of our other concepts, I just kinda said ‘cool’ and assumed it would fall through.
On our last day together in Agadez, we showed up to the Sultan’s palace, set up, and then waited around for a few hours. Was the show gonna happen? Maybe a few hours later, 15-20 men riding camels showed up. I didn’t count because I was so shocked Mdou was able to pull it off – calling this random guy we met in the desert with some camels, who then made some calls to get a bunch of Tuaregs (the youngest was probably 5 years old) to ride out from their village 3-5 hours away to be there for this special performance! Holy shit.
When we started playing, Tuaregs dressed in traditional Agadez clothing armed with hand drums started dancing and drumming. There were even a couple friends of ours who showed up with some swords and performed a traditional dance together as we played. This was all totally unplanned. Mdou, Ahmoudou, Souleymane and I are all wearing the signature Mdou Moctar colors – Tuareg purple mixed with white, which is the same color of the Mdou Moctar bird symbol.
Check out the performance, below:
Find out more via the bands Website or Facebook
Purchase the album Funeral For Justice here
The band will begin a European tour, performing at End of The Road and Manchester Psych festivals and making headline stops in Germany, Italy, France, and the UK. A North American headline tour will kick off this fall. Find a complete itinerary below.
LIVE DATES
August
- August 16 – Paredes De Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival
- August 19 – Berlin, DE @ Festaal Kreuzberg
- August 20 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
- August 21 – Munich, DE @ Ampere
- August 22 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia Summer Stage
- August 25 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
- August 26 – Antwerp, BE @ OLT Revierenhof
- August 27 – Koln, DE @ Gebaude 9
- August 28 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
- August 30 – Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
- August 31 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Psych Fest
September
- September 1 – Birmingham, UK @ Moseley Folk Festival
- September 2 – Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke’s
- September 3 – Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
- September 4 – Leeds, UK @ The Brudenell Social Club
October
- October 3 – Jersey City, NJ @ White Eagle Hall *
- October 4 – Westerly, RI @ The Knickerbocker Music Center *
- October 5 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theater
- October 6 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground ^
- October 7 – Montreal, QC @ Le National ^
- October 8 – Ottawa, ON @ The Bronson Centre ^
- October 9 – Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall ^
- October 11 – Columbus, OH @ The Athenaeum Theatre
- October 12 – Grand Rapids, MI @ The Pyramid Scheme
- October 13 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
- October 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
- October 16 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room Lounge +
- October 17 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre +
- October 18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall +
- October 19 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall +
- October 22 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile +
- October 23 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall +
- October 25 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom +
- October 26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom +
- October 28 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom +
- October 29 – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theatre +
- October 31 – Austin, TX @ Levitation Festival
November
- November 2 – Mexico City, MX @ Hipnosis Festival
* The Messthetics
^ The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis
+ Rosali
