Bombino, who closes out the current leg of his European tour in Portugal this weekend before bringing the music of his new album, Nomad, to the States on tour, is the subject of a piece on BBC Africa. In the piece, he discusses the links between rock and roll and the people of Niger.

“What I like about rock and blues music is that I can transmit emotions through this type of music to my fans, and that’s really important to me,” he tells the BBC’s Helene Daouphars. “Rock music is similar to the traditional Tende music; it is very popular in Niger. Nomads enjoy rock because they love dancing like crazy to it.”

Bombino goes on to discuss the differences between life in the desert and in some of the cities he’s visited on tour, like London, where he recorded the piece. You can watch the BBC Africa segment on bbc.co.uk.

Bombino’s US tour begins at the Sasquatch! Festival in Washington state on May 25 and continues throughout the summer. For details, visit the tour page.

Bombino is featured on the latest episode of the BBC World Service program Outlook, which explores “extraordinary personal stories from around the world.” The Tuareg singer/songwriter/guitarist spoke with the program while in the UK last week for a performance at London’s Village Underground to which the Guardian gave four stars.

“Traditional music is one of the forces which has united the Tuareg people who are now scattered across many African countries,” says host Matthew Bannister in his introduction, “and that music has been updated for a new generation by the guitarist Omara ‘Bombino’ Moctar.”

Bombino begins with the story of how he first discovered the guitar while a teenage refugee. He goes on to express his hopes for the power of music to affect change, the challenging truths that Tuareg songs can speak to power, and the positive results that can come from expressing them.

“I hope my songs can present part of a solution,” says Bomino. “The guitar can pass on the news.”

You can listen to the complete program at bbc.co.uk; Bombino’s seven-minute segment begins at 37 minutes in.

Bombino and his band continue their European tour with performances in Spain, Belgium, and Germany in the days ahead. They head to the States at the end of May for a tour that includes headline dates, festival sets, and opening spots with Amadou & Mariam, Gogol Bordello and Robert Plant. For details and ticket links, visit the tour page.

Bombino brought his month-long European concert tour to London’s Village Underground last night for a “young, enthusiastic crowd, cheering a Tuareg singer-songwriter and guitarist from the northern desert of Niger as if he were a rock star,” reports the Guardian’s Robin Denselow in a four-star concert review.

Bombino’s “performance from the start was energetic and full-tilt, driven by the conventional rock lineup of guitar, bass and drums,” says Denselow. “Most of his songs are built around sturdy, deceptively simple but memorable riffs, and the best, such as Imuhar, or the driving and hypnotic Amidinine, sound better with every hearing.”

Noting “Bombino’s energy and charisma,” Denselow concludes: “He was clearly enjoying himself, and his enthusiasm was contagious.”

Read the four-star concert review at guardian.co.uk.

The Independent, previewing the concert, describes Bombino as “a brilliant young Tuareg guitarist and singer-songwriter” and Nomad as “a bone-shaker of a new album.”

The Huffington Post, in an article enticingly entitled “Bombino Revives Romance, Kicks Like Espresso, Lifts Your Mood, Makes Your Party. It’s Great Music,” describes Bombino’s guitar playing as “round like Knopfler, spacy like Hendrix, concise like Ali Farka Toure.” 

Bombino and the band take the tour to the Continent this weekend for performances in Norway and Spain, before heading to Belgium and Portugal. They head to the States at the end of May  for a tour that includes headline dates, festival sets, and opening spots with Amadou & Mariam, Gogol Bordello and Robert Plant. For details and ticket links, visit the tour page.

For today’s sixth annual Record Store Day, a celebration of independently owned record stores around the world, Bombino releases a limited-edition 10” vinyl single of the track “Azamane Tiliade,” off his new album, Nomad, with an exclusive non-album B-side, “Si Chilan.” The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who produced Nomad, helmed the recording of these tracks at his Nashville studio, Easy Eye Sound. The 10” was mastered at Bernie Grundman Studios and pressed by Pirates Press.

To pick up a copy, visit your local indie music retailer or head to nonesuch.com, where the single is available for a limited time.

Nomad has earned four stars in a stellar Rolling Stone review.  

Describing Bombino as “a firebrand guitarist from Niger,” reviewer Will Hermes writes in the magazine: “Bombino’s style is raw, spacious, tuneful, deeply hypnotic and remarkably fluid—even when he’s shooting rapid-fire notes, the effect is like ripples gently unfurling in a pond.”

Hermes goes on to cite producer Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys for his “close attention to detail: the thickness of guitar fuzz and organ tones, the oomph of hand claps, the psychedelic swirl of guitar licks moving across the stereo spectrum.” 

The reviewer concludes of Nomad: “A perfect match of sound and soul, the set introduces a new guitar hero, and confirms Auerbach’s arrival as a roots-music producer to be reckoned with.” 

Read the complete review at rollingstone.com.