Mdou Moctar Details ‘Funeral For Justice’ Acoustic Companion ‘Tears Of Injustice’ & Shares Single

Mdou Moctar announced a new album, Tears of Injustice, due out on February 28, 2025, through Matador. The acoustic reworking of the Tuareg band’s 2024 LP, Funeral for Justice, is previewed with the single “Imajighen.”

During the band’s 2023 North American Tour, a military junta in Niger — the African country where members Ahmoudou Madassane, Souleymane Ibrahim and Mdou Moctar live — deposed President Mohamed Bazoum. The borders were closed, temporarily barring Moctar, Madassane and Ibrahim from returning to their families.

While Mdou Moctar already had plans to cut a Funeral for Justice companion, the project “took on new urgency and gravity,” as per press materials for the album. After concluding the 2023 tour, the band headed into Brooklyn’s Bunker Studio, working with engineer Seth Manchester.

“We wanted to make a separate version of Funeral for people to hear,” U.S.-based bassist and producer Mikey Coltun explained. “We’re always playing around with arrangements at shows. We wanted to prove that we could do it on a record, too. And there’s a whole other side of the band that comes out when we play a stripped-down set. It becomes something new.”

Tears of Injustice was recorded in one room and the band let the music flow freely. “We didn’t really work on the arrangements prior to going in,” Coltun added. “We’d just play, find the feel, and do the song.”

“If Funeral for Justice was the sound of outrage, Tears of Injustice is the sound of grief,” as per the press release. “On Funeral for Justice, anger at the plight of Niger and the Tuareg people is plainly expressed in the music’s volume and velocity.”

The 8-minute “Imajighen” is a double take on Funeral for Justice cut “Imouhar.” The band’s namesake and lead guitarist Mdou Moctar didn’t even stop playing long enough to split the takes. When Moctar, Ibrahim and Madassane returned to Niger, Coltun gave the latter a Zoom recorder. The rhythm guitarist captured a group of Tuaregs performing call-and-response vocals, which were integrated into the final “Imajighen” mix.

“When Mdou writes the lyrics, he typically writes them with an acoustic guitar,” Coltun said. “So you’re getting closer to that original moment. It retains heaviness, but it’s haunting.”

Listen to “Imajighen” below:

Mdou Moctar are currently on a North American Fall Tour. Scroll down for their itinerary and ticket info.