Tinariwen are returning to Australia in 2027, bringing more than four decades of desert blues with them for a run of shows across February and March.
Presented by Top Shelf, the initial tour takes the Tuareg collective through Hobart, Sydney, Brisbane, Byron Bay and Melbourne, alongside two appearances at WOMADelaide. The band will also cross the Tasman for WOMAD New Zealand, with further Australian dates still to come.
The tour follows the release of ‘Hoggar’, Tinariwen’s tenth studio album and a record that turns back towards the foundations of their sound. Recorded in Tamanrasset in Algeria’s Hoggar region, it strips things towards acoustic guitars, communal voices and the musical traditions that shaped the band long before their international breakthrough.
There’s also a significant reunion at the heart of the record. Founding member Liya ‘Diarra’ Ag Ablil returns to play guitar on six tracks, his first appearance with Tinariwen in around two decades. José González and Sudanese singer and oud player Sulafa Elyass also appear on the album.
Formed in northern Mali in 1979, Tinariwen helped bring assouf, or desert blues, to audiences far beyond the Sahara. Their Tamasheq-language songs carry stories of Tuareg culture, displacement, resistance, love and exile, propelled by those unmistakable cyclical guitars and rhythms. Across ten albums and more than 1,270 concerts, they’ve also collected three Grammy nominations, winning for ‘Tassili’ in 2011.
Australian audiences get another chance to experience that sound when the tour begins at Hobart’s Odeon on February 26. Tinariwen then play Sydney’s City Recital Hall on March 2, Brisbane’s The Tivoli on March 3 and The Northern in Byron Bay on March 4. Two WOMADelaide performances follow on March 7 and 8 before the Australian run currently concludes at Melbourne’s Northcote Theatre on March 11.
TINARIWEN — 2027 AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Friday 26 February — Odeon, Hobart, TAS
Tuesday 2 March — City Recital Hall, Sydney, NSW
Wednesday 3 March — The Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD
Thursday 4 March – The Northern, Byron Bay , NSW
Sunday 7 & Monday 8 March — WOMADelaide, Adelaide, SA
Thursday 11 March — Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
Sunday 14 March – WOMAD NZ, Taranaki, New Zealand
TICKETS
Presale begins Monday 21 September
Pre-Sale – https://mailchi.mp/topshelf/
General public on-sale Wednesday 23 September.
