Imidiwan: Companions, released 29 June 2009, is the fourth studio album by Tinariwen

Tinariwen

Tinariwen is a band of Tuareg-Berber musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed around 1979 in refugee camps in Libya but returned to Mali after a cease-fire in the 1990s...

. The album saw the band reunite with Jean-Paul Romann, the producer of their 2001 album The Radio Tisdas Sessions

The Radio Tisdas Sessions

The Radio Tisdas Sessions is a 2001 album by the Malian group Tinariwen. The album was recorded at Kidal's local Tuareg station, Radio Tisdas, by producers Justin Adams and Lo'Jo...

. Some editions of the album include a DVD featuring a 30-minute documentary about the band.

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews. The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying "Tinariwen just keep on keepin' on, relentless and brilliant as the Saharan sun." The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

also gave the album 4 stars, saying that the band are "...the nearest thing the modern world provides to a real blues feel."

Imidiwan also won the 2009 Uncut Music Award for being "the most inspiring and richly rewarding album of the last 12 months".

Track listing

Note: "Desert Wind," an instrumental, is included as a bonus track in some editions of the album.