Fan of polyrhythms? Vocal harmonies? Tamashek guitar playing? How about African dance grooves? Then you’ve probably been listening to Dirty Projectors’ brilliant 2009 album Bitte Orca incessantly. If you happen to live on either coast of the United States, however, the real deal is coming your way: Tinariwen, the Malian blues band that finally gained worldwide recognition in the early years of this decade, has announced a round of tour dates for February and March that will take them from Chapel Hill to Vancouver.

Starting out in Saharan Africa in 1979, Tinariwen has experienced things that few American bands can hold a candle to (so the next time you hear some tool whining about the rigors of touring, remind him that he at least doesn’t have terms like “refugee camps” and “rebel uprising” in his vocabulary). Fortunately, things have turned around for the band, as a new generation of fans (among them: Thom Yorke, Chris Martin, and TV On The Radio) has grown to appreciate their raw grooves—no surprise that their brief tour takes them to UNC and UCLA.

Check them out when they come to your town.

Tinariwen 2010 Tour Dates:
02/15 – Chapel Hill, NC @ University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
02/16 – Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center
02/18 – New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
02/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House
02/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ University of California-Los Angeles
02/21 – San Francisco, CA @ San Francisco Jazz Festival
02/23 – Seattle, WA @ Triple Door
02/25 – Vancouver, BC @ The Orpheum
02/27 – Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk Music
03/04 – Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix
03/05 – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
03/06 – Quebec, QC @ Palais Montcalm