Even for a band hailing from the nomadic Tuareg population, roaming the deserts of Mali, Africa, the members of the Grammy winning band Tinariwen have traveled further than most. Since breaking through to a global audience, their music has taken them around the world and been championed by artists as diverse as Robert Plant, Brian Eno, Thom Yorke, and TV On The Radio.

By the time the west caught on, the group had a three-decade career behind them. Formed in and around the Algerian town of Tamanrasset in 1979, they were initially a traditional group playing weddings, baptisms and parties–until they heard snippets of rock music and duly went electric. Their early music spoke of ethnic pride, nomadic rights, political struggle and rebellion; members of the band fought in the Touareg rebellion that broke out in Mali and Niger in the 1980s, leading to the popular image of the group with a guitar on one shoulder and a machine gun on the other. Returning to Mali after a 1994 ceasefire, Tinariwen continues to document the changing lifestyle of their persecuted people.