Tunng and Tinariwen Trio, Edinburgh HMV Picture House

March 21st, 2009

A 1500 capacity venue with the mature policy of readily available gallery seating, in the centre of Edinburgh? Step this way as the HMV Picture House (re-branded within a few months of opening but hopefully nothing to worry about there) has exactly that. Smokers might take the hump as they allow no pass outs to get your fix but that and a quibble about the inevitable drink price issue aside it’s what the city has needed for far too long, so lang may its lum reek.

Gracing the amply sized stage tonight, with a fourth album in the pipeline, are folky psych quintet Tunng bringing to live fruition their long-distance collaboration with Mali’s Tinariwen, or three of them at least. After the usual dismal hour of milling about between the doors opening and the entertainment beginning three unknown blokes take to the stage and attempt to get things going with a DJ set plus percussion but in all honesty the crowd is hardly anymore enthused than if they’d not bothered – not enough oomph.

Things look up though when Abdallah, Said and Elaga take to the stage in full Tuareg get-up and start off the main event with a heartfelt “Bon soir” and two otherwise unaccompanied songs of their own. This is what the crowd have paid to see and they’re definitely appreciative. The trio are clearly happy to be here too so all well so far.

Unfortunately once Tunng too take to the stage the combination of all eight musicians amounts overall to less than the sum of its parts. Their own songs, apart from ‘Bullets’, fail to translate well to a
hall the size of which they find themselves in and the improvised “metal” guitar workout in the latter half of the set is frankly embarrassing, partially saved only by Elaga’s excellent solo. Whether the two groups had spent not enough time in each others’ company or too little time jamming is hard to say, but other than the heartwarming little interactions between Becky (on her 21st birthday) and Elaga, the Londoners seemed to be unsure of the direction the songs were taking; with the Malians in attendance, they managed only just effective accompaniment to the men from the desert’s tracks which, given their blues/rock basis, were much better suited to this environment.

Overall, then, a good idea in theory that as yet has failed to translate well in practice. Tunng’s £15 t-shirts were though 100% organic which was a nice touch but they’d managed to price their cds at above internet prices (dearer even than from their own record label). Hopefully the next tour for their own work exclusively will find them in more intimate surroundings.