Jimi Hendrix of the Desert
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Crossposted from Haaretz
“Bombino” is the nickname of Omara Moctar, a singer and virtuoso electric guitarist from the wandering Tuareg tribes of the Sahara Desert in the African country of Niger. Thanks to his special style of playing, combining an ancient musical tradition with influences of electric blues and Western psychedelics, his fine debut album, “Agadez,” which came out in April, is winning significant exposure worldwide. On October 18, Bombino and his band performed in Israel for the first time at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv.
In the wake of the album Bombino has been granted the complimentary title of “the desert Hendrix” and he has been compared to the great blues guitarist John Lee Hooker and to African artists like the Tinariwen band and Ali Farka Toure.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
, editor-in-chiefSupport our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
