Over the past decade, as Mdou Moctar’s work has spread around the globe, it’s become a quintessential example of music acting as a bridge to connect people. Even if that bridge happens to be 6,600-miles long and crosses the Atlantic Ocean to reach fans in America.
The 40-year-old guitarist hails from Agadez, a remote part of the West African nation Niger. His contemporary take on Saharan desert blues on songs like “Oh France,” acts as a syllabus shining a light on the effects of colonialism and exploitation that has left Nigeriens in a constant battle with poverty, inequity and political unrest.
“It’s hard for people from [America] to know what is going on around Africa,” Moctar (born Mahamadou Souleymane) shared in a recent phone conversation. “The media never allow you to see the reality, honestly. And that is a big problem.”
Through music, he says, he is trying to change that — and with his critically acclaimed albums and highly praised shows and festival sets, he’s been succeeding.
In fact, just three days after Moctar and his Nigerien bandmates — drummer Souleymane Ibrahim and rhythm guitarist/backing vocalist Ahmoudou Madassane — played Pitchfork Music Festival in 2023, a militant-led coup overthrew Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum, and the musicians were left stranded in the States as borders back home were locked down. Many quickly came to their aid, including Jack White, who was one of the biggest donors to the band’s GoFundMe campaign. (He’s has also invited Mdou Moctar to open for him in Paris and to record a session at his Third Man Studios.)
New York tastemaker label Matador Records signed the Mdou Moctar band to its roster in 2019, issuing the 2021 album “Afrique Victime” and 2024’s “Funeral for Justice,” while putting their marketing muscle behind the band to expose the music to a wider circle. The band’s bassist, Michael Coltun, is also a New Yorker, who spends nearly two days traveling every time he records with the band in Africa, a testament to the power of Moctar’s music. Even if listeners in the West can’t always sing along to the lyrics — Moctar often sings in his native Tamasheq mixed with French — they recognize the sounds of his slick guitar licks, which mash up traditional Tuareg arrangements with classic rock, psychedelic rock and blues rock.
“I love music, I just want to make people happy,” Moctar says.
The band’s latest album, “Tears of Injustice” (out Feb. 28, recorded while they were stuck in the U.S. in the summer of 2023), offers an acoustic take on last year’s explosive release, “Funeral for Justice,” where songs like the gripping “Modern Slaves” have been completely re-worked. In the track, the translated lyrics beg: “Oh world, why be so selective about human beings? / My people are crying while you laugh / All you do is watch / Oh world, why be so selective about countries? / Yours are well built while ours are being destroyed.” Stripped back, it’s even more haunting.
The band’s new tour (heading to SPACE this weekend) will also go unplugged, giving a whole new appreciation for the deft arrangements and handiwork behind their music, much like when they appeared on an NPR “Tiny Desk” session in 2021.
“For me, it reminds me of when I was young because I started with acoustic, it was just me solo,” Moctar says. “I feel like I’m traveling back in time.”
As a child, secular music was shunned in Moctar’s devout Muslim family. But, inspired by Nigerien musicians like Abdallah Oumbadougou, he persevered and built his own instrument with wood and bike cables and then studied Van Halen videos to teach himself how to master playing it. Today, Moctar says, his family is more accepting, especially seeing how much good the guitarist has been able to do for his community, such as building classrooms, partnering with Wells Bring Hope to provide clean drinking water, and initiating food donations.
“It is an honor to have that [ability] in the family. Now they understand,” says Moctar. For him, it’s an extension of his main purpose in making music: to bring people together in the pursuit of harmony.
“I want people to understand one thing — we are the same. We don’t have to look at colors, we don’t have to look at borders,” he says. “For me the world is like anatomy — everything has its own importance, every country has a purpose. For example, if the stomach is sick, the whole body will be. If you take one kidney, the other might be weak. … So we have to love each other. The most important thing is to be nice, to make people happy, to try to help other people.”