Tamikrest in Tamasheq language, means junction, connection, knot, coalition. The group members come from different horizons (Mali, Niger, Algeria and France) and their band and its music unifies them. “A desert hosts us, a language unites us, a culture binds us.” Though their music takes root in desert blues we even hear Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd and Mark Knopfler in there. Through the message of their songs, Tamikrest wants to make Tamasheq poetry and culture accessible to inhabitants beyond the Sahara, playing with a conviction and fury that reminds us what purposeful and genuine music can be and what it can do to us when we are in its presence.