Etran Finatawa is a Niger

Niger

Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

-based band, formed in 2004 during the Festival au Désert near Timbuktu

Timbuktu

Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...

, Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

. The music of Etran Finatawa blends the traditional music of the Woodabe and Tuareg people with western instruments such as the electric guitar..

Since 2005 they have toured extensively in Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia.. In 2007, their debut album Introducing Etran Finatawa (2006) was nominated for a BBC Radio Award for World Music. They released their follow-up, Desert Crossroads, in 2008, and in 2010 released Tarkat Tajje/Let's Go.

The name of the band means "the stars of tradition".

External links

• Etran Finatawa Official Site
• Etran Finatawa: Niger's Nomadic Blues: NPR feature on Etran Finatawa