TITLE: Arbina
LABEL: Glitterbeat
The second album by Mauritania’s Noura Mint Seymali continues and extends what she and her band accomplished on their outstanding 2014 debut, Tzenni. They call their sound Azawan, connecting themselves to a multi-century Moorish musical tradition – they amplify tradition, turning it into a new mode of Saharan psychedelic rock. Seymali lays down the harmonic foundations on ardine (women’s harp) while her husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly explores the outer limits of the electric guitar. His customized axe can handle Moorish quarter-tones, he runs it through a series of effects; the result is one of the world’s most compelling guitar sounds. Bassist and drummer drive the band’s funky, tricky rhythms – they’ve been touring incessantly since the first album was released, now they sound like a road-tested machine. And Seymali’s melismatic singing is otherworldly in its power and passion. Track 5, written by Seymali’s father and made famous by her stepmother Dimi Mint Abba (Mauritania’s most famous musical export) is a great example of how they’re modernizing tradition. More evidence that the future of rock ‘n’ roll can be found in the Sahara desert.
TOP TRACKS: 1 2 5 6
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 3 4 7 8 9 10
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