Tinariwen, a Tuareg band from northern Mali, have become famous worldwide for their infectious fusion of desert blues and electric guitars. Their latest album, Tissili, won a Grammy award for best world music album in 2012 and marked a return to a more traditional accoustic sound in celebrating the nomadic Tuareg people of the Sahara. Guitarist and vocalist Abdallah Ag Alhousseini, one of the band's founding members, speaks to RFI about the need to return to their more traditional roots and their hopes for an independent Azawad state in the Sahara.
