Mdou Moctar unveil live performance, The Agadez Folders: Live at Sultan’s Palace

Last year, the members of Mdou Moctar convened in Niger to complete their then-unfinished album, Funeral For Justice, and to capture a series of live sets in the region surrounding Agadez, a historically important hub. In this performance, The band are joined by traditional dancers, swordsmen, and upwards of 20 camels with the Agadez Grand Mosque visible against the horizon.

Producer and bass player Mikey Coltun on The Agadez Folders: Live at Sultan’s Palace: "On our way to film at a location out in the bush, Mdou suddenly stops the car to talk to a guy walking a couple camels. They exchanged numbers. Unbeknownst to me, Mdou was plotting to get 50 camels to show up at the king of Agadez's palace where the famous Agadez mosque is."

"This was an idea we had discussed, but much like some of our other concepts, I just kinda said 'cool' and assumed it would fall through," he continues. "On our last day together in Agadez, we showed up to the Sultan’s palace, set up, and then waited around for a few hours. Was the show gonna happen? Maybe a few hours later, 15-20 men riding camels showed up. I didn't count because I was so shocked Mdou was able to pull it off – calling this random guy we met in the desert with some camels, who then made some calls to get a bunch of Tuaregs (the youngest was probably 5 years old) to ride out from their village 3-5 hours away to be there for this special performance! Holy shit.

When we started playing, Tuaregs dressed in traditional Agadez clothing armed with hand drums started dancing and drumming. There were even a couple friends of ours who showed up with some swords and performed a traditional dance together as we played. This was all totally unplanned. Mdou, Ahmoudou, Souleymane and I are all wearing the signature Mdou Moctar colors - Tuareg purple mixed with white, which is the same color of the Mdou Moctar bird symbol."