Toumast

Moussa Ag Keyna, the sound of the desert

Paris 

25/10/2006 - 

Moussa Ag Keyna, founder and frontman of the Tuareg group Toumast, has finally got round to making his own solo debut. Recorded at the start of 2006, Ishumar is an album full of optimism and proud rebellion, infused with subtle hints of nostalgia. In short, an album very much in keeping with its author’s Tuareg spirit. 

Moussa Ag Keyna was born around 1972 in a Tuareg camp somewhere between Mali and Niger. When he was still in his teens, the young freedom-fighter set off to join one of the Tuaregs’ rebel camps in southern Libya. "Tuareg identity is something that’s deeply anchored in our education," he explains, "Every mother teaches her children what it is to be a Tuareg and instils him with a fierce sense of pride for having been born into this people." Moussa’s six elder brothers had already left for Libya and were urging their younger sibling to come and join them. Without saying a word to his parents, Moussa upped and left and spent the next two years receiving military training in the rebel camp. "We were supposed to get some sort of schooling at the same time," he says, "but that soon got dropped."

Becoming an Ishumar

Besides his military training, Moussa also spent his years in the rebel camp mastering the art of playing guitar Ishumar-style. (The term Ishumar, derived from the French word "chômeur", meaning  "unemployed", refers to the freedom-fighters’ practice of travelling into town and drawing social security benefit, using the money to finance their trip to the next town). These days, Ishumar has taken on a much broader meaning, referring to a rebel, a person who is ready to drop everything and fight for their ideology. Musically speaking, Ishumar songs have become a means of getting messages and all-important ideas across. Needless to say, Ishumar songs typically revolve around the ideology of rebellion and revolt and the concept of Tuareg identity. Drawing on these traditions and his newly-acquired guitar skills, Moussa went on to form the group Toumast (a Tamashek word meaning “identity”) with a handful of cousins.

In the early ‘90s, a first wave of rebel attacks were launched against military bases and police barracks. "We were never really afraid," recalls Moussa, "Our fight was so deeply anchored in us that we were truly fighting with our souls – unlike the soldiers on the other side who were merely fighting to earn a living."

During the fighting, Moussa ended up seriously wounded in the leg and was invalided out of the war. France took over the mediation process that had initially been launched by Algeria and publicly committed itself to taking in the war’s casualties. Thus it was that Moussa found himself transported across the Mediterranean. But in an unexpected twist of fate, the Tuareg rebels refused to accept the peace deal signed by the Niger authorities. The French government had already given the victims papers so it could not turn round and send them back to Niger, but it did refuse to provide any hospital care for them while they were in the country.

The impossible return

Fortunately for Moussa and his Tuareg compatriots, a number of humanitarian associations took care of some of the wounded and found doctors to treat them for free. Moussa underwent a miraculous first operation – and found he was able to walk again! Meanwhile, he kept up his musical activities in France, playing guitar at local get-togethers and ceremonies. But for the moment his Toumast days were over.

At that point, Moussa was convinced that his stay in France would be a short one. But in the mid-90s, a tragic event stood that certitude on its head. "In 1995," he remembers, "a peace deal was signed by the rebels and the government of Niger. Several of my next of kin went back to their camp, but they were murdered on their return. That’s when I understood that going back to Niger was no longer an option."

Staying on in France, Moussa came to work with a variety of different musicians and one day he hooked up with Pedro Rodrigues, a man who was trying to get together a collective of artists from different backgrounds. The project evolved into Digital Bled and Moussa Ag Keyna played a leading role in the temporary group who came together to record a CD album, after which they embarked on a major tour. At that point, Moussa had never even dreamt of making a solo album. "The idea had never crossed my mind,” he says, “All I was interested in was playing, writing songs and sharing my music with people of different origins. I wasn’t looking for anything more than that!"

However, after Digital Bled’s tour in 2003, Pedro Rodrigues convinced Moussa it was time to record his own compositions and revive his old group Toumast. "That’s how the album came about," says Moussa modestly, "It’s almost uniquely made up of songs I wrote after 1995, after I arrived in France. These songs tell my story and speak of my convictions, but they also convey the sheer beauty of the desert – and all I’d like it to be." In short, Ishumar is both a unique and moving tribute to a tribe and a personal message of encouragement to his brothers back home.

Toumast Ishumar (Village Vert) 2006
Concert dates: Le Satellit Café, Paris (17 November)
Le Bourget- Festival des villes de musiques du monde (18 November)
Le New Morning, Paris (19 December)

Mélanie  Bosquet