Mdou Moctar unleashes epic title track from upcoming album, Afrique Victime

Mdou Moctar has released the title track from his hugely anticipated upcoming album, Afrique Victime, with the Niger-based guitarist pulling out all the stops in a jaw-dropping display of intricately crafted electric guitar lines and fierce guitar playing prowess. 

Afrique Victime, which will serve up a unique blend of contemporary Saharan music and rock music, will be released by indie powerhouse Matador Records on May 21. 

Luring listeners in with a series of trademark trills and hypnotic single-coil twangs, the track boasts an abundance of fierce licks and scorching high-guitar lines, appearing in the form of rapid-fire hammer-ons and pull-offs, as well as fretboard-spanning slides.

As the track picks up the pace in the latter half, so too does Moctar's stunning solo, offering up a true technical tour-de-force of expertly executed lead lines and open-string riffs.

Of his empowering new track, which translates to "Africa Victim", Moctar said, “Afrique Victime is a message to all of the countries with money and power who come into Africa and kill the leaders who try to empower the people and lead revolutions.

“This pushes the area into danger and instability and emboldens the terrorists, and it’s the people who suffer and have no justice,” he continued. 

The track follows up previous acoustic guitar-driven single Tala Tannam.

Afrique Victime is available to preorder now from Moctar's official Bandcamp page.