Founded by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Tinariwen is a Grammy Award-winning group of Tuareg musicians who come from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali.

The music draws on diverse influences from pop/rock to traditional and possesses their own unique sound. But most striking is how their music seems to bridge African modalities to blues in the states. This was further demonstrated when Chicago's celebrated blues harmonica player Billy Branch was summons from the audience to bends some notes lock-step with the ensemble. Aside from the masterful musical blend witnessed by the audiences, the performance was a first hand demonstration of difference cultures reveling in shared diversity and humanity, something we need more of in today's climate of fear.

They just released their seventh studio recording "Elwan" and are halfway through touring states east bound wrapping up in Pittsburg later this month before continuing on to the UK and Europe. Given their past tours, you can likely expect to see them coming back again soon.