Search - Various Artists :: Music & Songs of Mauritania

From A Passionate Inwardness

R. J MOSS | Alice Springs, Australia | 10/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Cd I have is,'Moorish Music From Muratania'. As inspiration for well known Malian guitarist, Ali Farka Toure(who recorded with Ry Cooder on Talking Timbuctoo), Dimi Mint Abba possesses one of the most expressively passionate voices recording in any language today. I would rest my case with the single track 4 title,'Hassaniya', a love poem. Both Dimi and Khalifa Ould Eide are pofessional musicians, iggawin, who are adapting instruments from throughout the Arab world, such as the oud and qanun to traditional Mauritanian music. The electric guitar is also present on this disc. To a novice, like myself, these 'intrusions' go undetected. They embellish the thrilling voices and throbbing complex rhythms that evoke the shifting moods of arid countries. She sings,'In praise of the Prophet', adapted from an old Yemeni poem,which seguines into praise of Muaritania's independence. Having no inkling of Arabic, I'm at the mercy of what may be quite clumsy translations. 'Art's Plume' has 'winged songs in rapture float aboard a vessel of hopes/The songs of my lute - from my heart's bliss or lamentations proceeding - do my soul transport.' The fact that my culture has effectively extinguished such concepts from popular speech aside, it's for certain that Dimi's voice, her being, has not. This entire CD is indeed ' a whisper elevating as a golden bridge, soaring in loftiness.' That said, the choice of track 10 for the exemplary'Desert Blues' compilation, is not representative of the great ecstasy experienced elsewhere on this treasure. Mauritania has withstood colonisation throughout milennia. Since the demise of the USSR the U.S propoganda machine has accelerated its program of painting Islamic cultures as dysfunctional. ie: measured by their failure to integrate with the global neoliberal orders. One hopes that the persausive powers of an all-encompassing market do not erode voices as strident as Dimi's and Khalifa's, or that the propaganda succeeds in demonizing them."

Infectious

R. J MOSS | 02/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first second you put this on you wonder what's wrong with the sound quality, relax, within minutes you will be weaving round the room like a mad old dervish, wondering why on earth you too cannnot sing like this even though you try."