We always loved to sing in our traditional ceremonies, our ears have always been used to that music, and we grew up sharing this thing. So we thought why don’t we use this rhythm, modernise it, show it to the world, create a new style of music from us as a band.” Redouan explains.

Their most recent single Sigham Olinw (2019) (trans: I carpeted my heart for you) is rich in poignant guitar melodies, and the steady lulling percussion carries us into the warm soundscape of the Atlas Mountains. The lyrics tell the story of star-crossed lovers. A young man is heartbroken that his lover is marrying another, because although she still loves him, she is afraid of the judgment from society if she stays with him.

The music video for Sigham Olinw, which has clocked up over 2 million views on YouTube to date, features the band atop of a hill looking out at the sun-kissed landscape below and walking the stone steps up to their historic town.

At the heart of their music-making process, is their connection to the land and nature.

“We get our inspiration from the mountains, from fields, from the ancient buildings, that we have in this rural area.” Redouan nods.

Redouan references Tinariwen, Bombino and Ali Farka Touré as their biggest inspirations, or as Abdelakrim neatly summarises “the sound of the desert blues”.

They also list Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, BB King, Bob Marley and Scorpions among their influences, as well as Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour.

When they’re not playing music, Redouan tells me:

“I love to play soccer. Abdelakrim loves to play soccer with me too. Smail loves to read. As for the others like Hasan, he likes to go to the gym.” Smail also studied philosophy at university.

I’m pleased to report that the band have new music coming out soon, and although Redouan couldn’t tell me everything, I did get the name of their first single being released this year…

“Our new work…is an old love story that happened for real in our village and we’ve entitled this song Fadma, it’s a woman’s name… We want to show the world this story, and the value and importance of the existence of the Amizigh woman. The woman suffers in this love story. It’s a tribute to honour her.”

Talking about their new music video, which was still in development when I spoke to them, they tell me they want the world to discover their beautiful region.

“We want to transpose our history, values and what we think of the Atlas Highlander people, and we named this style ‘Young Atlas Highlander’.”

Excited for the future and the prospect of bringing their “Young Atlas Highlander” music to a wider audience, Tasuta N-Imal have already booked tour dates at festivals in Poland and France. They are definitely a band to look out for this year.