Who
Matthew Tinari is a producer, musician and music entrepreneur based in Dakar, Senegal & Nouakchott, Mauritania. Luxus Live regroups Tinari’s creative interests and experience in a single enterprise committed to carving out a new vantage point in global music culture.
In his current capacity as the manager/drummer of Noura Mint Seymali, a Moorish griot-pop band from Mauritania, Tinari has overseen substantive growth of the band’s international profile; securing key bookings at venues across Africa, Europe, and North America and garnering press coverage in global outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, NPR, The Guardian, The FADER and VICE.
As a record producer, Tinari is responsible for the Noura Mint Seymali releases Azawan EP (2012), Azawan II (2013), Tzenni (2014) and Arbina (2016), successive recordings rendering Moorish griot repertoire from Mauritania thru a kaleidoscopic lens of psych, blues and funk. Both Tzenni and Arbina, reached #1 on World Music Charts Europe and garnered an artist award from the African Union at the first edition of the All Africa Music Awards in Lagos, Nigeria.
In the live music sector, Tinari has organized extensive world tours spanning Africa, North America, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Europe. He has both performed and secured bookings for the artists he represents at a wide range of top-tier music festivals while overseeing aspects of tour management ranging from the strategic (marketing, global routing, budget management, interfacing with agents) to the logistical (visa applications, international tax code, language translation for media opps...even driving the tour bus!). Conversely, as a presenter, Tinari conceived and organized the first edition of ASAMAAN Festival of Music & Astronomy, Luxus Live’s biennale event on Gorée Island – Dakar, Senegal hosting a public astronomical observatory, Main Stage concerts and live astral VJing in one integrated festival space.
Tinari initially moved to Dakar in 2007 on a scholarship to study Wolof and French language, after graduating from Oberlin College with a major in African Studies and Jazz. Quickly taking a deeper interest in the wider context of urban West Africa, he remained to work primarily as a drummer with Senegalese artists such as Awadi, Duggy Tee, Njaaya, Xuman and Nix. Applying artistic practice towards a wider window on contemporary culture, Tinari has been commissioned for “trend forecasting and creative intelligence” research with global fashion consultancy WGSN (UK) and contributed as a writer to outlets like okayafrica (US), Brownbook (UAE) and Modern Media (China). He continues to occasionally supplement work in the music industry with work as an independent fixer / translator for journalists, academics and private enterprises operating throughout West Africa.