This isn’t our first encounter with an incoherent rock star – music journalism being, as Frank Zappa once sneered, “people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t speak, for people who can’t read.” But as he appears on the webcam, it becomes clear that a video call with Imarhan’s leader Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane – Sadam for short – will present a particular kind of communication breakdown.
Born in Southern Algeria, and hailing from the Tuareg ethnic group whose nomadic ancestors have roamed the Sahara for centuries, the only way to converse with Sadam is to ask a question, hear it translated by the band’s Paris-based publicist, stare into space while he replies in French, then wait for the simplified version.
