On our way back to a location out in the bush, Mdou suddenly stops the car to talk to a guy walking some camels. They exchanged numbers. Unbeknownst to me, Mdou was planning to take 50 camels to appear at the palace of the Agadez king where the famous Agadez mosque is located. This was an idea we had discussed, but like some of our other concepts, I just said “cool” and assumed it would fall to me.
On our last day together in Agadez, we showed up at the Sultan's palace, set up and waited for a few hours. Would the show take place? Perhaps a few hours later 15-20 men appeared on camels. I didn't count because I was so shocked that Mdou was able to pull it off—calling this random guy we met in the desert with some camels, who then made a few calls to get a bunch of Tuaregs (the youngest was probably five) out of their village 3-5 hours away to be there for this special show! Holy shit.
When we started playing, Tuaregs dressed in traditional Agadez clothes armed with drums started dancing and drumming. There were even a couple of our friends who showed up with some swords and did a traditional dance together as we played. All this was completely unplanned.
from our partners at https://pitchfork.com/news/mdou-moctar-share-live-film-the-agadez-folders-live-at-sultans-palace-watch
