Terakaft & Basile

Viremma

In this new project, born at the foot of Etna, the guitars and voices of a nomadic, ancient and nationless Touareg people resonate along with those of Sicily, the island where millennial roots always mixed.

The caravan aka Terakaft (caravan in Tamasheq) has crossed the Mediterranean, just as their ancestors did before, but this time, several centuries later, it did so to merge in an encounter with Cesare Basile, in Sicily.

About Us

Cesare Basile (Sicilia) is a true bluesman, an outsider singer/songwriter who has always been committed to the sometimes harsh criticism of the planet’s social structure. The Caravan could not have made a better match.
In Sicily we learned that the best fruit comes from grafting on wild trees. Here a combination of free spirits has been born where ancient languages ​​and rhythms are mixed around the common fire of the blues, of music made of blood and sweat, of love and division, of celebration and revolt. The world is one, as one is the people of men, so is the heart that beats in the chest.
Terakaft is a genuine desert rock band, sculpted by the pure searing air and the endless rolling sands of the Sahara. The stark, harsh conditions of the Sahara have permeated their wild riffs, and as a result, Terakaft are the perfect embodiment of all that is wild and free in desert blues today. They have taken the electric guitar and made it their own. Their sound is modern but keeps its roots firmly planted in “popular” music, listened to and sung every day by Tamasheq youth.
Cesare Basile is definitely one of the most distinguished and innovative Italian artists of the past decades. Throughout the thirty years of his career he has successfully created a unique and original language of “Blues”, eventually settling on the use of a dark and archaic Sicilian dialect which he uses to represent the affliction of human people and the scream of pain of a population robbed of its dignity and self-determination.
Basile’s preferred subjects deal with stories of love and of anarchy, aiming to describe the defeated and the miserable, drawing the right inspiration from certain types of African music and creating a common theme uniting the Sicilian language, the pain of the defeated and the oppressed, and Africa, considered universally as the cradle of human civilisation.

Terakaft (Mali) « ⵜⵔⴾⵊⵜ » that means « the carovan» in tamasheq is a tourag blues group. They recorded their first album Bismilla, The Bko Sessions over four days at the legendary Bogolan Studios in Bamako, in Mali. Following the release, the band went on their first European tour. Since then they have recorded a number of records, culminating with Alone (Tenerè, 2015) that confirmed their status as one of the most interesting acts in international World Music.
They are definitely a band to be seen live. The perfect mix of rhythmic guitars and deep base tones swing us back and forth as though on a camel trek in the heart of the desert. The pulsating percussions strike, completing the sound, carrying us to the heart of a magical dance pattern. We need to remember that Terakaft songs and the Tinariwen songs are social poetry, about revolt and rebellion against marginalization; they express the nostalgia, desire of freedom, dignity, and also the beauty of a people and land that is currently in a state of conflict, violence and devastation.
Cesare Basile is without doubt one of the most authoritative and innovative Italian authors in recent decades.
In a career spanning thirty years he has created a visceral Blues language, both personal and unique, adopting an archaic and deep Sicilian dialect as his language, with which he conveys the decay and mortification of his land and its people over the last few hundred years, brought about by central government exercising its power.
The themes Basile treasures are stories of love and anarchy, telling the stories of defeated and miserable people, the marginalized and deprived, inspired by African music (Tinariwen and Terakaft firstly but also Boubacar Traorè and Tamikrest) creating a common thread tying the Sicilian language, the pain of the defeated and marginalized and Africa, considered the cradle of civilization by all.
Sicily like the Delta of the Missisipi and Basile like the new Skip James or Robert Johnson.
It all comes together under his unstinting rock attitude that embraces Sicilian folk music, folk, blues and, in a personal style, punk.
His musical vocation is not separate from his political and social commitment, expressed in his lyrics, and is manifest in his participation to important activities such as the occupation of the Coppola Theatre in Catania in 2011, today still recognized as an essential focal point for the city’s cultural fabric.
With 11 albums to his name, Cesare Basile has earned widespread recognition and prestige resulting in twice winning the Targa Tenco, the most prestigious and sought after Italian award for new music writers and singer-songwriters.

SoundCloud

Extracts of the upcoming debut album “Viremma”.

Spotify