Until recently music from Mauritania has rarely been more than a curiosity—that is, if people noticed it at all. But with the ascendance of Tinariwen‘s soulful strain of desert guitar music over the last decade, sounds from the Sahara have become the latest international music craze (relatively speaking). Located on the southwestern edge of the Maghreb, Mauritania has produced some remarkable guitar music, with most players craftily adapting sounds and patterns once made on the traditional tidinitt (an hourglass-shaped lute with four or five strings). In 2011 the local Locust label released an astonishing double CD of guitar music from the nation called Wallahi le Zein!! Wezin, Jakwar and Guitar Boogie From the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, most of which was compiled from bootleg cassettes taped at private celebrations and sold only at gray-area kiosks. The country has never had a legitimate music industry.
