In collaboration with TivoliVredenburg, SPOT presents a new two-day music festival dedicated entirely to North African desert blues. Various remarkable artists from the deserts of Algeria, Mauritania, and Mali are coming to Groningen to perform, connect, and share the story of their music and culture. The line-up consists of Imarhan, Samba Touré, and Noura Mint Seymali.

“A desert hosts us, a language unites us, a culture binds us”. This beautiful sentence, the motto of the band Tamikrest, forms the inspiration for the festival. Imidiwan means “my friends” in the Tamashek language spoken in parts of the Sahara. The festival is colorful, diverse, and in-depth: not only the music is central, but also the stories of the artists and the Tuareg.

IMARHAN

The second album by the Algerian Tuareg band Imarhan, released in 2018, is titled Temet, literally translated from Tamashek as “Connections”. Imarhan’s music is meant to remind people that we are connected to one another, according to frontman Sadam. Their fourth album Essam (Lightning) has just been released.

SAMBA TOURÉ

The Malian singer and guitarist Samba Touré pays tribute to Ali Farka Touré (1939–2006), the father of African desert blues. The two are not related, but Samba sees him as his musical mentor and began his career in Ali’s band. As he says himself: “Playing Ali’s music is not a duty, it is pure joy!”

NOURA MINT SEYMALI

Noura Mint Seymali is a Mauritanian singer and player of the ardine, working within the tradition of the griots, singers who pass on the history of families and communities. On her third album Yenbett (2025), she combines desert blues with her characteristic Arabic vocal inflections and powerful flourishes.