Mahamadou Souleymane, known as Mdou Moctar, is a Tuareg songwriter, musician and actor from Agadez, Niger who became famous through a music trading network of cell phones and memory cards in West Africa. He is one of the first musicians to perform modern electronic adaptations of Tuareg guitar music. He reached a global audience when Sahel Sounds released his music on the Music from Saharan Cellphones: Volume 1 compilation. His fifth studio album ‘Ilana’ (The Creator), released in 2019 to international acclaim, has been called “the most fiery psych-rock of the 21st century” and one of “the 25 best psychedelic rock albums of the 2010s”. He also has the starring role in the 2015 film Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai, which translates as “Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It”. It is the world’s first feature film in a Tuareg language.