Mdou Moctar

Tuareg guitarist and band Mdou Moctar make their long-awaited Sydney Opera House debut with two nights of fiery, psychedelic rock and explosive energy in the Utzon Room.

Cutting-edge Nigerien guitarist and hypnotic band make their scorching Sydney Opera House debut

If Eddie Van Halen grew up in a small village in West Africa, he might have sounded a little like Mdou Moctar, the Nigerien guitarist whose innovative blend of Tuareg desert blues, full-blast noise and electro-tinged field recordings come wrapped in some of the fiercest axe shredding modern music has ever heard.

Raised in a village in central Niger, Moctar taught himself how to play on a self-made guitar, welding traditional Tuareg desert rock to his own wildly unique variations. After Moctar’s early music went viral on a West African cellphone network, the singer-songwriter’s tracks were compiled on 2013’s Afelan, his second album, which showcased his field recordings and Hendrix-channeling electric guitar style. Recorded in Detroit, 2019’s sonically adventurous Ilana drew rave reviews for its psychedelic pyrotechnics, while 2021’s explosive Afrique Victime – one of the year’s most acclaimed records – expanded Moctar’s musical palette with a dazzling array of sounds.

This is Mdou Moctar and his bandmates’ debut performance at the Sydney Opera House – and one you’re not likely to forget.

Sydney Opera House Presents