By the time Tal National reached international acclaim with 2013's "Kaani," the band's first release outside of Nigher, they had spent more than a decade crisscrossing Niger, usually on dirt pathways through the Sahara, playing epic five-hour sets, seven days a week, selling their CD's on street corners. In the process, they became Niger's most popular band. Audiences in the West and critics quickly embraced the band's singular and well-honed sound.

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