Mystic Shredding

Mikey Coltun of Mdou Moctar: We’re just a loud rock band

BY MICHAEL ALLEN ZELL

Mdou Moctar, the man, grew up in a rural Niger religious household dead set against his playing music, which led to him discreetly making his first guitar. Mdou Moctar, the band, features a hypnotic hybrid of churning core and his ripping on electric guitar. Mikey Coltun has the key roles of bassist and producer/recording engineer with the band. They had just returned from an Australian tour when he sat down to talk about this most unique of bands.

When asked if the band describes their sound as “desert blues” or “Tuareg music,” Coltun stressed, “We usually just say we’re a loud rock band. Obviously, that comes from a desert blues sound. We hate the term “world music” with passion, and we don’t wanna be lumped into that category at all. We are no different than any other rock band that exists out there.”

The band has built an international following. Coltun’s vision from the beginning was that the energy of their shows be no different from the punk shows he grew up going to. They have embraced that and pushed it into that world. “This is dance music and it should feel like a concert,” said Coltun.

The live version of Mdou Moctar will be familiar to those who have heard their recorded music. “I wanna bring out the kind of elements that I think are really special about this band,”

Coltun said. “This is a raw rock band, and I never wanna change the sound into something that it’s not. I wanna be respectful to the tradition that it comes from—however, I do want it to sound like how we play it.”

Those who know and love the performance version of the Mardi Gras Indians and Trombone Shorty will recognize a musical kinship with taking the groove and building on it. “I love that stuff,” said Coltun. When the band is in the studio, they do one take of a long song, and then he is tasked with cutting it to a condensed version for the record. Live, it’s stretched out for as long as they want it to go.

Mdou Moctar’s most recent recordings were the two Niger EPs, Volumes 1 & 2. The ethos is that of the roots of field and cassette recordings, which harkens back to the earliest Mdou Moctar music being passed around via cell phones and memory cards in West Africa. Coltun clarified, “It’s a lot of different types of media that’s not a typical high quality record sound, but it captures the raw band.”

The band also consists of Ahmoudou

Madassane on rhythm guitar, and the newest member, percussionist Souleymane Ibrahim. “We’ve gotten way tighter as a band and have owned this sound. We’re at the place where Souleymane can do whatever he wants and we follow him,” praised Coltun.

This is a rock band, but it’s one different from others, and not just sonically. The Islamic faith is practiced by over 99 percent of Niger. None of the band drink or do drugs. Moctar’s biggest fear was that his family would think temptations would win out if he played music and toured. Coltun made it clear, “Religion is very important to him and he’s respectful of it.”

Mdou Moctar first played Jazz Fest in 2019 and are looking forward to thrilling crowds again. As it turns out, Coltun has been going to Jazz Fest for years. “I love Jazz Fest. My dad’s very into it, so he used to take my brother, sister and me. It’s one of my favorite festivals. I spend a lot of time hanging out in the gospel tent. I think that’s one of the best things there. Some of the bigger acts, it’s cool, but I don’t really care about that as much as some of the local music.” O