Mdou Moctar Share Video For New Song “Imouhar”
Funeral for Justice Out May 3 via Matador
March 26, 2024
Photo by Ebru Yildiz
Nigerian quartet Mdou Moctar release a new album, Funeral for Justice, on May 3 via Matador. Now they've shared his second single, 'Imouhar', via a music video. Lauren Greenhall directed the video. Check it out below, followed by the band's upcoming tour dates.
The band belongs to the Tuareg and the song asks the Tuareg to preserve their Tamashek language, as it is in danger of extinction. Mdou Moctar shares his name with its singer and guitarist and is one of the last people in his community who knows how to write in the language. In a press release, Moctar says, “People here just use French. They start to forget their language. We feel that in a hundred years no one will speak Tamasheq well, and that's so scary for us.”
The band has performed “Imouhar” live in the past, and a different version of the song, a 13-minute long instrumental version with a drum machine, was released in 2022. Niger EP Vol. 1.
The band previously shared the album's title track via a music video.
Funeral for Justice follows the band's 2021 album, Africa Victim.
In an earlier press release, Moctar said the new album was inspired by the troubling political climate in Niger. “This album is really different for me. Now the problems of terrorist violence are more serious in Africa. When the US and Europe came here, they said they would help us, but what we see is really different. They never help us find a solution.”
Producer and bassist Mikey Coltun said: “Mdou Moctar has been a powerful anti-colonial band since I've been a part of it. France came in, fucked the country and then said “you are free”. And it is not.”
Speaking about the band's evolution, Coltun added:Ilana was the gateway album, saying this is a raw rock band. And Africa Victim was a sum of that vision. With Funeral for Justice, I really wanted this to shine through with the political message because of everything that's going on. As the band got tighter and heavier live, it made sense to capture that urgency and that aggression – it wasn't forced, it was very natural.”
Read our interview with Mdou Moctar at Africa Victim.
Mdou Moctar tour Dates:
April 14 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts festival
April 21 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts festival
June 5 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Anchor Rock Club
June 6 – Harrisburg, PA @ The Abbey Bar on ABC
June 7 – Richmond, Virginia @ Cheers Brown's Island
June 8 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
June 9 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
June 11 – Charleston, SC @ Pour House
June 12 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
June 13 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
June 14 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
June 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Hi-Fi
June 18 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
June 19 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Bag
June 20 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
June 21 – Buffalo, NY @ Asbury Hall
June 22 – Greenfield, MA @ Green River Music festival
June 23 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
June 26 – Brooklyn, New York @ Warsaw
June 27 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
June 28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
July 3rd – London, UK @ Electric Brixton
July 7 – Beuningen, NL @ Down the Rabbit Hole
August 19 – Berlin, DE @ Festaal Kreuzberg
August 20 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Kreuzberg
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 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
August 30 – Dorset, UK @ End of the Road festival
August 31 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Psych Fest
September 1 – Birmingham, UK @ Moseley Folk festival
September 2nd – Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke's
September 3 – Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
September 4th – Leeds, UK @ The Brudenell Social Club
from our partners at http://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/mdou_moctar_share_video_for_new_song_imouhar