Etran de L'Aïr

Stars of the Aïr

Etran de L'Aïr takes its name, "stars of the Aïr", from the mountain massif of northern Niger. The members are brothers and cousins, all born and raised in the Abalane quarter of Agadez, near the grand mosque. Their families were nomads who settled in the city in the 1970s to escape drought. The band formed in 1995 with a single acoustic guitar, brought back from Libya by a friend, and a calabash beaten with a sandal for percussion.

In the early years they walked to their shows carrying a small PA, sometimes 25 kilometres into the bush, and often played for nothing. Abindi later went to work in Libya, a journey the government had forbidden, and came home with a guitar, walking the last stretch from Arlit and crossing the border at night. The band then pooled its money to buy instruments in Nigeria.

The wedding circuit

Their living came from weddings, baptisms and political rallies. A wedding can last three days, and a single engagement can mean six hours of music without a break for about 100,000 CFA francs. They were known for playing their own songs rather than covers. Abindi has said they play for the Tuareg, the Toubou, the Zarma and the Hausa, and that "there's nowhere in Agadez we haven't played." They became the best-known and longest-running group on the Agadez wedding circuit.

Their label describes a style that looks less to Western rock than other Tuareg guitarists do, and more across Africa: to the blues of northern Mali, Hausa bar bands and Congolese soukous, with several guitars soloing at once in tight control. The players have also named Ali Farka Touré, Abdallah Oumbadougou and the Wassoulou music of Oumou Sangaré. Three guitarists swap instruments on stage, each as comfortable on bass as on lead.

Sahel Sounds

Christopher Kirkley of the Portland label Sahel Sounds took notice of the band in 2014 and offered to record them; he had met them while producing the film Akounak with Mdou Moctar. Two of their songs appeared on the label's compilation Agrim Agadez in 2017, and the debut album No. 1 followed on 4 June 2018, co-released with Imouhar Production. Afropop and Cyclic Defrost heard loose, communal party music, and in December 2020 Amanda Petrusich of The New Yorker named it her album of the year. In January 2020 Abindi recorded the band himself for Music from Saharan WhatsApp 01, the first in a label series meant to send money to bands more directly.

Agadez

Toubouk Ine Chihoussay arrived in autumn 2021 as their first studio recording released internationally, followed by Adounia and Tchingolene. The album Agadez came out on 18 February 2022, recorded by Michael Coltun on a mobile studio set up in the family home. It opens with Imouwizla, and its songs set the hardships of nomads and the desert road to Europe against the energy of a party. Mojo gave it four stars for its danceability.

Their first European tour, 28 dates from November to December 2021, began just before the album. One of the four travelling members was refused a visa, so three made the trip and rotated the instruments between them.

America and beyond

A first United States tour in 2023 produced the EP Live in Seattle. In 2024 came 100% Sahara Guitar, their first studio album, recorded in Portland and Los Angeles and produced by Kirkley, which Songlines made an Editor's Choice. A quartet of Abindi, Allamine, Illa and drummer Alghabid Ghabdouan toured Australia in March 2025, played a KEXP session that April during a North American tour, and has since played in Brazil and Canada.