Bombino

Omara "Bombino" Moctar is a Tuareg (= Kel Tamasheq) musician from Niger, recognized around the world as a guitar virtuoso and as a master of the West African musical genre known as desert blues.  Historically, this style of music shares roots with Afrocuban, as well as Misissippi Delta blues, which makes it fairly accessible for western audiences, who have embraced him as well as other artists from this region. He has worked with western musicians as well as regional ones at different times. Bombino's music has the unmistakable Tuareg qualities and evocative of the wide open Saharan landscapes with its circular riffs, and West African beats. He sings in his native Tamasheq, and has a fairly recognizable finger-picking style that he attributes to Mark Knopfler's influence, which has earned him the reputation as "The Sultan of Shred".