sahelsounds

Group Dental (previously) from Nouakchott, is one of the most interesting bands I've had the chance to record and definitely the most unique. The music is distinctly modern, but incorporating a broad range of influences from the traditional scales of the Sahara (Moor, Peul, Soninke) to the imported sounds of their youth (Hendrix, Marley).

Ross from SonicAfrica was in Nouakchott last spring, and shot this video of a rehearsal:

The name of this song is Onakhara, which means "let's learn" . Baabi Sarr sing this song in soninke , and in this song he encourages Mauritanias people to learn their native languages.

Labels: mauritania, nouakchott

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

The Peuls are group of historically pastoral people stretching from the Senegal to Cameroon. But the Pulaar culture in Mauritanian is distinctly that of the Senegalese River that defines the border between the two countries. The music of "le fleuve" has been commercially popularized by Baba Maal, and he has no doubt aided to it's survival and repitition.


Sall is a folk guitarist - a true folk guitarist. He has no interest in playing concerts, but will gladly pick up the guitar in his salon in the "African quarter" as the array of toddlers wander in and out. He's often joined in song with his wife, Kumba, or his children, if they can be coersced to sing along. Notice crying infants, bleating goats, and clanking tea glasses (all integral to Mauritanian recordings).


Sall explains the "base" of Peul folk music


Sall with family


Sall and Kumba


Abderahmane Amdou Ba, also known as Daarorgal Fulbe, Pulaar griot, sings in a rehearsal here with backing guitar of Baby (pronounced Bah-bi) Sall and Jawara, of the group Dentaal, accompanied by the jazz trumpet of Leon Nade, the director of the new music school here in Nouakchott.


Daarorgal Fulbe


Finally, in the spirit of field recordings...a nighttime walk through Cinquieme.


Cinquieme at night

Labels: mauritania, pulaar

It's late night, and the crackling radio is broadcasting a Wolof griot.


griot


Next, an excerpt from an interview I conducted with a young rapper from Cinquieme. He talks about the obstacles to music, government supression, lack of resources and financial support for the arts. Following, is an acapella rap in Pulaar and Hassaniya with an explanation.

(brief translation of rap: "i say, that in this country there are many problems, no organization, we don't have any solidarity between the white...the first verse is in pulaar, the second is in hassaniya...the refrain says that while many rappers are making music just to attract some , i'm making rap to speak the truth, all the time, just until the end of time...")


interview with abu


abu's rap and explanation


Talking with an older, traditional Pulaar folk musician, Daarorgal Fulbe, I pose the question as to what he thinks about the youth today making rap music. His reply, in French, is interesting:


("It's now that rap music has come...but it's existed for a long time. A very long time. Me, when I was 4 or 5, with my older brother who rapped. If I sing in Pulaar you'll understand......Is that rap? So actually, rap just modernized, but it's been here a long time...")


Daarogal Fulbe on rap


In conclusion, two Mauritanian tracks copied from a bootleg CD purchased in Cinquieme.


Diamen Tekky (with Noura Mint Seymali


RJ

Labels: hiphop, mauritania

One of the premiere music venues in a country that otherwise does little to support the arts is the French Cultural Center(CCF). Aristocrats and expats mingle (is there any difference?) in a distinctively non-Mauritanian ambiance. Noura Mint Seymaly plays a set of "modern" Hassaniya music.

Noura Mint Seymaly - traditional
Noura Mint Seymaly - get on the floor!

Crosby is a Malian guitarist in Nouakchott, one of the fixtures of well known musicians, a group of the first modern band, notable for his dark sunglasses of which he always is wearing a pair. Along with a few other aging musicians, most every young guitarist learned from him. I ask him here to show me some of the Hassaniya scales.

Crosby

Labels: hassaniya, mauritania, nouakchott

First recording, from a BOB (Brothers of Blood) concert. B.O.B. is a Mauritania hip hop group that now lives in France. They arrived to a screaming crowd at this homecoming gig.


B.O.B. Concert


Ibrahim Boucoum, Malian guitarist in Sekou's studio does a bit of "griot" improvisation, a "freestyle" (in french). He asks my name and then proceeds to sing about myself and America and Obama (you don't need to speak French to understand that much). He is joined part way through by "Nasty", an R&B singer.


Mali Guitar 1


Mali Guitar 2


Abdoul "Baby" Sarr is one of the greater guitarists in Nouakchott. I visit him with his band via an introduction through a friend. Most of the group has been playing for some time, 30 years plus, notably Baby and his friend Jawara (the soloist). The three guitarists and percussionist play a few songs in Soninke, Pulaar, and Hassaniya (listen for the breakdown in the first track), a mixture of Reggae, Funk, and traditional sound.


Group Dental - Sida


Group Dental - Duty


Finally, a rehearsal session for an upcoming concert. The band is led by Sidi Baba, the singer, a flamboyant reggae rockstar, joined by myself and Boucar on the guitar and Khadim on Djembe. This track uses a traditional Pulaar folk song, but much of Sidi's music is strongly influenced by Baye Fall, one of the Marabout brotherhoods in Senegal.


Rehearsal with Sidi Baba

Labels: bayefall, mauritania, nouakchott

A recording from a practice session of an upcoming concert here in Nouakchott. I'm playing some sparse guitar accompaniment with two musicians from Senegal, Sidi Baba and Khadim, who sing and play the Djembe respectively.

hayo


Omar's shop in Cinquieme, the kids are playing some game, singing a song.

kids

Salif plays a production he's made on his computer, a fusion of hip hop and traditional Pulaar folk guitar.


salif


Outside Sekou's studio, a Baye Fall group, followers of one of the Senegal brotherhoods pass by, drumming, collecting alms.


bayfal

Labels: hiphop, mauritania, nouakchott, senegal

A wedding in cinquieme, held under a tent, in one of the numerous sand courtyards in the neighborhood. You can't not be a spectator. There is an electric guitar and a dozen hand drums, as well as a griot singer.

soninke wedding


Later that night, the wedding moves indoors. I stand out in the darkness outside the mosque to take a recording from over the wall.

drums


Salif is a Pulaar folk musician; guitar student and instructor. He has a hair salon seperated by a sheet from the tailor next door.

pulaar folk


Sekou and Cos2Cos have a recording studio. It is also a haircutting salon and cell phone repair shop. Cos2Cos puts together a reggaeton track, and Abid, a rapper from the Central African Republic stops by for an impromptu improvisation.


studio recording


At sunset in the marche capital - Hassiniya music blares from the cassette shop nearby while the cars fight their way through the gridlock.


sunset

Labels: hiphop, mauritania, nouakchott, pulaar, soninke

in cinquieme, i usually wake to this prayer call from the mosque next door. it's in soninke, one of the small languages spoken in the region, and is one of the first prayer calls i've heard with a woman's voice. sometimes is goes on for fifteen minutes or so, but it's soft and nice to wake to, even at four in the morning.


prayer call

Labels: mauritania, nouakchott