This tuesday evening Rebel Up & Les Ateliers Claus present: Etran de l’Aïr!

The name Etran de L’Aïr translates to “the Stars of the Aïr,” the mountainous region of Northern Niger. They are based in the town of Agadez, an urban center renowned for the electric guitar and the western named “desert blues” music. In the Sahara, this electric guitar genre is intertwined with social function. It’s a lucrative commerce, and gigging bands make their living in weddings, baptisms, and political events. Etran de L’Aïr is one of Agadez’s longest playing groups on the circuit since 1995. Yet they are also a band that has remained on the fringes, stars of the Agadez working class.

Etran de L’Aïr play a style that captures the contemporary sound of Agadez, incorporating vastly different musics into their repertoire. While Tuareg guitar follows a predictable format, Etran breaks convention and throws a third guitar into the mix. The two lead guitars solo on top of one another, in constant dialogue, with a crashing response from the drum. There is a bubbly underwater warble that emerges from reverb and crackly amps. It’s electric party music, surf rock, from a place that is all beach. They differentiate themselves from the other wedding bands: “We play our own folklore, not like the other artists in Agadez. Our music is based around traditional Takamba…and we listen to a lot of Malian music. Not Tinariwen, but musicians like Ali Farka Touré and Oumou Sangaré.” Etran de L’Aïr is not just a musical group, but a family collective.

+ DJ support Rebel Up SebCat

Tickets presale: 8€ under 26/ unemployed – 10€ normal. Buy here.
doors 20h
concert @ 20h30

@ Les Ateliers Claus
15 Rue Crickx
St Gilles

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