Mdou Moctar have shared a new concert film titled The Agadez Folders: Live at Sultan’s Palace. The first in a series of live sessions filmed in Niger before their album Funeral for Justice was finished, it was shot at the King’s Palace in the center of Agadez while the band is surrounded by dancers, swordsmen, and over 20 camels. Watch it below.
Mdou Moctar has several ideas for The Agadez Folders: Live at Sultan’s Palace, but didn’t know which ones would come to fruition in time. As bassist Mikey Coltun explains, not even the presence of those camels were a given:
On our way to film at a location out in the bush, Mdou suddenly stops the car to talk to a guy walking a couple camels. They exchanged numbers. Unbeknownst to me, Mdou was plotting to get 50 camels to show up at the king of Agadez’s palace where the famous Agadez mosque is. This was an idea we had discussed, but much like some of our other concepts, I just kinda said ‘cool’ and assumed it would fall through.
On our last day together in Agadez, we showed up to the Sultan’s palace, set up, and then waited around for a few hours. Was the show gonna happen? Maybe a few hours later, 15-20 men riding camels showed up. I didn’t count because I was so shocked Mdou was able to pull it off – calling this random guy we met in the desert with some camels, who then made some calls to get a bunch of Tuaregs (the youngest was probably 5 years old) to ride out from their village 3-5 hours away to be there for this special performance! Holy shit.
When we started playing, Tuaregs dressed in traditional Agadez clothing armed with hand drums started dancing and drumming. There were even a couple friends of ours who showed up with some swords and performed a traditional dance together as we played. This was all totally unplanned.
English (US) · 