IT'S a long way from the deserts of west Africa to Glasgow's west end.

At its simplest this is the story of a journey between these two places. But it's also much more than that, and tells of many journeys, some completed, some still under way, some never undertaken. At one level its about how a group of young men made a voyage from the wild empty places of the southern Sahara to the concert stages of the world. On another level, it also tells of a people's long quest to preserve an identity and a nomadic way of life threatened over decades by new emerging African rulers, who see them as a little more than a troublesome tribespeople worthy only of being corralled and contained.

It's a story, too, that late last Wednesday night made headlines when army officers in the west African country of Mali launched a coup d'etat, storming the presidential palace in the capital Bamako before announcing that they were suspending the constitution and taking power.

The motivation for that military coup, say its perpetrators, was anger at the way the ousted Malian President, Amadou Toumani Touré, had failed to contain an uprising by the nomadic Tuareg or Kel Tamashek – The Tamashek-speaking people – in the north of the country.

Caught in the grip of this uprising, like countless other people of Tuareg descent, is Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, the charismatic musician, singer, poet and frontman of the internationally acclaimed band Tinariwen, who, despite his absence, are due to play two forthcoming gigs in Scotland at Oran Mor in Glasgow's west end and Queen's Hall, Edinburgh on April 5-6, marking the beginning of a UK-wide tour.

Against all the odds, Tinariwen have become a world music phenomenon, and the story of their success is a distillation and testimony of the dangers and obstacles faced by the Tuareg as a whole.

"Ibrahim is somewhere near the village of Tessalit around which there has been some of the heaviest fighting," says Andy Morgan, now a writer and journalist who once managed Tinariwen, and helped organise Mali's legendary music Festival in Desert, which has its origins in 2001.

Few people know more about Tinariwen than Morgan, currently writing a book about the band set against the backdrop of Tuareg culture, art and the volatile politics of the region. Its people have been engaged in numerous rebellions during recent years, seeking to defend their lifestyle or push for the independent state which they call Azawad.

On the morning of Tuesday, January 17, a new Tuareg rebel group, the Mouvement National de Libération de L'Azawad (MNLA) attacked the town of Menaka in the northeast of Mali. As the MNLA quickly moved on from Menaka to strike the towns of Tessalit and Aguel'hoc further north, the casualties on both sides mounted and it became clear a major Tuareg uprising was in the making.

"The Malian army has a big garrison and base at Amachach just a few kilometres from Tessalit, and the MNLA laid siege to it," says Morgan, who remains well connected with MNLA sources. It took the rebels the best part of two months to take the Amachach garrison during which time the surrounded Malian army could only be supplied by parachute air drops.

Some reports indicate US military aircraft may have taken part in this resupply, a fact not implausible given Washington's concern that the Tuareg MNLA has links with al-Qaeda's local affiliate in the region, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Indeed, much has been made of this alleged link, notably by the Malian government who according to some analysts appear keen to discredit the MNLA while building US and European support for what they say is their battle against Islamic terrorism.

Certainly, there are elements among the Tuareg rebels who are Islamist in outlook. Notable among them is a splinter group called Ancar Dine, which means "Defenders of Islam" in Arabic which has gone as far as to call for the imposition of Sharia (Islamic law) in any independent Tuareg state – and across Mali. Its leader, Iyad Ag Ghali, was one of the most prominent figures of a Tuareg rebellion in the 1990s and is thought to have links with a branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which is led by his cousin, Hamada Ag Hama.

Beyond this there appear few real links between the Tuareg rebels and AQIM, with many Tuareg leaders insisting they would fight to prevent the influence or grip of Islamic extremists groups within their movement or any autonomous independent state they might succeed in creating.

But along with the al-Qaeda bogeyman threat the Malian government seems keen to play up has come another convenient explanation for the recent Tuareg uprising that sets alarm bells ringing in the international community. The most significant of these have been reports about the return of demobbed Tuareg mercenaries who had fought for the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Following Gaddafi's demise it's said these Tuareg fighters, fully trained and armed, flooded back to their homeland in the Sahel region of northern Mali determined to foment a rebellion against the Malian government.

On both these counts against the MNLA, the alleged links with al-Qaeda and the return of Tuareg mercenaries from Libya, the truth appears a lot more nuanced.

"They are just fresh opportunities and circumstances in a very old struggle," points out Morgan, adding that the first rebellion of the nomadic Tuareg against the central government of Mali broke out back in 1963.

At that time, Tinariwen's future frontman, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, was better known by his nickname "Abaraybone" which loosely translates as "ragamuffin kid who's always playing in the dirt". Four years old at the time, Ibrahim suffered the loss of his father who was arrested in front of his family in the village of Tessalit before being taken to the Malian army barracks and executed.

The boy was then to witness the slaughter of his family's herd of camels, cattle and goats in reprisal before being exiled to neighbouring Algeria with his family. It was while living in desert refugee camps near the city of Tamanrasset that he built his own guitar out of a tin can, a stick and bicycle brake wire. At the grand old age of nine, Ibrahim ran away from home in a cement truck to earn some money and see the world, ending up living rough with other exiled Tuareg youngsters.

By the end of the 1970s Ibrahim was in contact with other Tuareg of his own age sharing songs, stories, poetry and a love of music from Elvis Presley and Led Zeppelin to Jimmy Hendrix and Bob Marley. Tinariwen were formed around 1979 in refugee camps in Libya but only returned to Mali after a ceasefire between the Tuareg rebels and the Malian government. In that time their lyrics and music have become synonymous with the Tuareg-Tamashek cause.

"It was around 2007 when they were making their way out across the desert towards Bamako, to fly out for the start of a European tour, and they had a rendezvous with some rebels in the desert, that they came under Malian army helicopter gunship attack," says David Flower of Sasa Music who is now Tinariwen's agent.

HE paints a picture of a band who, despite their global fame, still need to go to great lengths simply to leave their homeland. Those who know the band best say too much is made of the "guns and guitars" image with which they are associated. That many of Tinariwen's older members including Ibrahim Ag Alhabib have played an active part in the Tuareg uprisings is in no doubt, but rebellion is far from their only message.

"Their message was always more about the rebellion of the soul that the rebellion of the Kalashnikov and bullet," says Morgan. "Their songs freeze-frame the young Tuareg everyman, exiled from his homeland, forced into meaningless labour, pining for his home, his family, his mother and his sisters. And in that sense, their music is also intensely personal."

In the last few days Mali's Tuareg uprising has escalated, while in the capital Bamako, Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, whose renegade group of soldiers launched the putsch against the government, has consolidated his grip.

What Sanogo's rule means for the future of the country, the Tuareg uprising and its people, only the coming weeks and months will tell. If a story in yesterday's Washington Post is anything to go by, however, it is clear that coup leader Sanogo received military training in the United States on "several" occasions according to a US Africa Command official. While the US State Department has condemned the coup and called for restoration of democratic rule, so far it has not suspended diplomatic relations or any of the $140 million in aid scheduled for Mali this year.

Against this incredible backdrop, Tinariwen are set to appear in Scotland in the next few weeks at the start of their UK tour with Ibrahim Ag Alhabib expected to be still missing from their line-up.

"I wouldn't underplay his absence, but the musical experience will be identical in terms of the way the band works," says John Stout of Regular Music, the promoter of the Scotland concerts. "No-one has any problem with him staying with his family at such a crucial time," adds Stout

Like the nomadic Tuareg culture from which they come, Tinariwen are used to journeys: some made, some curtailed, some yet to be embarked upon. With and without Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, their music has eloquently expressed the plight and aspirations of their people. Right now, it's more relevant than ever.