Bombino is the alter ego of Omara Moctar, a Tuareg guitarist from Niger who became famous two years ago with the release of his solo debut album Agadez. Creating this album, Bombino cooperated with Dan Auerbach, producer and lead guitarist of the blues-rock band The Black Keys.As a Tuareg, youngster Omara Moctar was hunted by the Niger government and had to flee several times. During one such exile, relatives left behind a guitar and he began teaching himself to play it. He eventually studied with the renowned Tuareg guitarist Haja Bebe, who asked him to join his band, where he acquired the nickname Bombino, as a variation on the Italian word for "little child".
As he already had played in several local bands, a Spanish documentary film crew gave Bombino the opportunity to record his first album, Group Bombino's Guitars from Agadez Vol. 2, with which he acquired local success in Niger.
While Bombino lived in exile in Burkina Faso, filmmaker Ron Wyman, who had cassette recordings of his music, decided to track him down. One year later, Ron Wyman finally met him and encouraged him to properly record his music, to which Bombino agreed. The two of them produced an album together in the city Agadez, which became the name for the new album. This new album, released in April 2011 debuted at the top of the iTunes World Chart, with which he gained worldwide fame.
As a part of the oppressed Tuareg, Omara Moctar's songs deal with the Tuareg concerns that he experienced during his life in Niger. Nevertheless, Bombino's songs sound rather optimistic, contrasting against the sometimes harsh symbolism of the songs.
In contrast to the Tinariwen's style he was influenced by, this new album, as well as the previous Agadez, sounds looser, more melodic and riffier than the regular Tuareg music, which could be, in the case of Nomad, due to the fact that Dan Auerbach, blues-rock enthusiast itself produced this second.
