Watch TV on the Radio and Tinariwen Join Forces on Colbert

Stephen Colbert may purport to only care about America in his persona, but his guest stars suggest he's more worldly than he lets on. The Mali-native collective Tinariwen appeared on The Colbert Report last night in support of their album Tassili, released earlier this year. The band played two cuts from the album and participated in an interesting interview.  read more

Tinariwen: Tassili

Tinariwen are revolutionaries in both senses of the word. The band members are former soldiers who during the early 1990s fought in the Tuareg uprisings in Niger and Mali. Even during that time, they performed at clubs and social gatherings in various countries, circulating cassette tapes of songs melding North African traditions with electrified blues and rock. The group long ago abandoned their weapons, giving the impression (upheld in English translations of their lyrics) that art in general and music in particular have become more powerful than guns. Even a quarter century into a long and celebrated career, Tinariwen continue...  read more