News Release

Mdou Moctar to Record at the Edison Laboratory - Live Online May 2 at 7:00 pm

Date: April 15, 2018
Contact: Jerry Fabris, 973-736-0550 extension 48

Mdou Moctar to Record at the Edison Laboratory - Live Online May 2 at 7:00 PM

WEST ORANGE, NJ – On Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at 7:00 PM, Thomas Edison National Historical Park welcomes guitarist Mdou Moctar and his band from Agadez, Niger of Western Africa, who will make sound recordings at Edison’s West Orange Laboratory using a 1909 wax cylinder phonograph. Internet users can watch live streaming video of the recording session via the park’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ThomasEdisonNHP/. During this approximately 45-minute online program, the band will record a few “takes”, and a Museum Curator will explain the process as they work. In-person seating is available but limited, advance reservations are required. Please reserve seats via this website: https://tinyurl.com/ya7lxwbz, or call 973-736-0550, extension 89.

Mdou Moctar is a Tuareg musician and songwriter based in Agadez, Niger who performs modern electronic adaptations of Tuareg guitar music. His music achieved first acclaim in West Africa through a trading network of MP3 recordings on cellphones and memory cards. Playing a left-handed Fender Stratocaster, he sings about Islam, education, love and peace. Since 2008, Mdou Moctar has released four albums, and has appeared on several compilation albums. In 2015, he had the starring role in the world's first feature film in a Tuareg language, Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai, which translates as "Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It", an homage to Prince's Purple Rain. His music has been featured on the BBC, NPR, in The Guardian, Pitchfork, New Yorker, L.A. Weekly, Rolling Stone, Les Inrocks, and his film has screened at festivals around the world. Mdou Moctar and his band embark on their second tour of the United States in May this year.

Mdou Moctar information and photos for press:

• Mdou Moctar/Sahel Sounds: http://sahelsounds.com/mdou-moctar/
• PHOTOS: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bwu_MymqXkPmTldpaV9rTk8yQTQ
• SOUSOUME TAMACHEK (2017 album) PRESS KIT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwu_MymqXkPmSTQ2aXNLSU9nSkU/
• AKOUNAK TEDALAT TAHA TAZOUGHAI (2015 movie) PRESS KIT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwu_MymqXkPmY0ZObjMtY2RPNGc/

Thomas Edison National Historical Park is dedicated to promoting an international understanding and appreciation of the life and extraordinary achievements of Thomas Alva Edison by preserving, protecting, and interpreting the Park’s extensive historic artifact and archive collections at the Edison Laboratory Complex and Glenmont, the Edison family estate. The Visitor Center is located at 211 Main Street in West Orange, New Jersey. For more information or directions call 973-736-0550 ext. 11 or visit: www.nps.gov/edis.
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