Tishoumaren (ⵜⵉⵛⵓⵎⴰⵔⴻⵏ in Neo-Tifinagh script) or assouf,[1] internationally known as desert blues, is a style of music from the Sahara region of northern and west Africa.

[7] The musical style took shape as an expression of the culture of the traditionally nomadic Tuareg people, amid their difficult sociopolitical situation, including rebellions, widespread displacement and exile in post-colonial Africa.

[8][2][3][9][7] The Tuareg people live in a region of North and West Africa that covers large portions of the Sahara across the modern-day national boundaries of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Chad, and to a lesser extent, reaching into Burkina Faso and Nigeria.

With the departure of colonial powers in the 1950s and 1960s, the lands inhabited by the Tuareg population were split primarily between the six new countries of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, Burkina Faso and Chad, making them ethnic minorities across the region.

[10] Besides receiving military training and weapons in the Gaddafi-sponsored camps, many of the young Tamasheq men were also exposed to revolutionary ideas, pan-Africanism, and popular music.

[16][17] In recent years, some artists have further adapted the sound to introduce more typical Western rock instrumentation, such as replacing traditional percussion with drum kits.

The energetic music of Songhoy Blues, Mdou Moctar, Amadou & Mariam, and Bab L' Bluz has subsequently been labeled as "desert punk" and psychedelic rock.