Tinariwen are a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali formed against a background of rebellion and war.

The group, the name roughly translates as The Desert Boys, was formed by rebel fighters of the Tuareg rebellion in 1979 though now some of the younger musicians to join have not experienced direct conflict.

Their desert blues were a hypnotic, richly layered mixture of traditional drums and electric blues guitars with vocals in their native language of Tuareg.

The packed Concorde 2 welcomed Tinariwen, who are on a massive two-year tour of the world, with open arms. The Grammy-award winning group performed mainly from their sixth album Emmaar.

Wearing the traditional nomadic clothes of a turban and long African dress illustrated that despite their international success their homeland remains important to them.

The intensely layered mix of tight rhythms, interwoven with soulful spiritual singing show that regardless of the language barriers the music cuts through and connects with audiences anywhere .

The fast tracks did cause a slight problem for some of the British crowd not quite able to dance with ease to some of the funky African beats.

Four stars