sahelsounds

Moudou ould Mattalla is Chinguetti's most well known musician. Originally from Zourate, on the border with Algeria, he lives in the village and shares his knowledge with whoever is passing through. He released a CD that is sold in France, that was recorded in his home. In his "music room," the walls are literally covered with pen markings, the different tunings and scales corresponding to each mode of Mauritanian music.


Moudou demonstrating the mode Al-Lebait

Collaborative jam session with a drum machine

Improvisation over Ali Farka Toure song

Modou playing in soiree

Ambient recordings from a party



Ahmed Imbend is a talented self taught musician. "My first guitar, I made when I was a kid. It had one string. Eventually, I got bored, and added another string. I just kept adding strings."

Today, he plays an old student sized Spanish guitar. In the typical DIY fashion, one of the strings is made from a bicycle cable, the transducer pickup is from a telephone, and the amplifier is a stereo with it's leads spliced. He plays with an alternate tuning (E-Ab-Db-E-Ab-Db) that owes a great deal to the tidnit.


Ahmed with homemade "jagwa"

Ahmed "blues"

Ahmed chinguetti song

modified pickup

riff with tapping



Lastly, at an Auberge in the old city across the wadi, a woman's group is assembled and singing for a group of French tourists.

Traditional Moor song

Unidentified chant

Labels: chinguetti, guitar, hassaniya, mauritania

A small town in the rugged interior of Mauritania, an ancient site renowned for its libraries and a caravan trading town for wellover a thousand years.

Ambient recording


Nearly every night, one can hear a distant drumming and chanting. I stumble out in the dark to discover the source. In a crumbling courtyard across the wadi in the old section of town, fifteen men are gathered. This is called "Medh" - or chanting for the Prophet Mohammed. Two men are leading the songs, but everyone is joined in the chanting. There are a few woman present, and the occassionally join in with the shrill cry as they mingle in the background, preparing tea. In Chinguetti, this occurs almost every night, and I am to understand that it is performed exclusively by the "black" Moor.


Medh from a distance


Medh 1


Medh 2


One afternoon I meet with Mama Dimi Mint, a performer in Moudou ould Mattalla group. I come along with the guitar, and bring a trail of children with me. On the tapi (straw mat), a mass of children, boys and girls at their respective sides, play tbal (a shallow drum that looks like a bowl covered with a skin), clap, sing, and bang on whatever else they can find.


Mama Dimi Mint and kids 1

Mama Dimi Mint and kids 2

Mama Dimi Mint and kids 3

Labels: chinguetti, haratine, mauritania, medh