Released November 23, 2018, Zerzura is the original soundtrack to the film (of the same name) composed by and starring Ahmoudou Madassane, a prolific Tuareg multi-instrumentalist. Regarded as the first ever ‘Saharan acid Western’, Zerzura tells the tale of a nomad’s search for a magic city of gold through free form guitar improvisations.

Madassane encapsulates a desert journey with a meditative and distinctively traditional guitar-centred soundtrack that transports listeners into a hazy ambient soundscape of sand dunes and mirages – even without accompaniment of the film. It’s an earthy mix of melancholic tranquility, nomadic psychedelia and blues not too dissimilar to artists such as Nigeria’s Bombino.