Malouma - Nour - 2007, MP3, 320 kbps torrent

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Malouma / Nour

Жанр: Ethnic, Folk
Страна: West Africa
Год издания: 2007
Аудиокодек: MP3
Тип рипа: tracks
Битрейт аудио: 320 kbps
Продолжительность: 50:40 MIN
Источник (релизер): Найдено в сети
Наличие сканов в содержимом раздачи: да

Треклист:
01. Khayala
02. Yemma
03. Nebine
04. Kentawiyate
05. Gamly
06. Nnew
07. Yarab
08. Habib
09. Chtib
10. Casablanca
11. Lemra
12. Nour
[spoiler="Об исполнителе (группе)"]
Malouma is one of the great singers of North Africa. With her last album, Dunya, she established her reputation as one of the finest exponents of the desert blues, and she has bravely established her reputation as an adventurous song-writer, despite the restrictions placed on women in Mauritania. She deserves to be as well-known as Tinariwen, who come from across the Sahara in northern Mali, but this set fails to do her justice. She sings as well as ever, with a cool, varied style that covers anything from slinky, intense songs on Islam and tolerance through to more rousing pieces that echo western R&B and gospel, but she has allowed her producer to add in electric guitar and extra drums or keyboards, and the subtlety of her music has been seriously damaged in the process. Tinariwen are a great Saharan rock band because they have developed their own style. Dressing up Malouma's songs with session musicians doesn't work. - Robin Denselow
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[spoiler="Об альбоме (сборнике)"]
Цитата: After years of her music being banned by Mauritania’s military government, Malouma now speaks through her new role as one of the country’s 56 senators and through her new CD, Nour, which brings the desert blues of Mauritania into the 21st century.

Born in the sand dunes in the south of the country into an artistic community, with a father whose musical tastes were wide-ranging, Malouma raised controversy at the age of 16 with a song she wrote and sang which criticised polygamists and the way they married ‘younger and more charming’ wives and turned the old ones out into the street. Opponents of her views threw stones at her and she was unable to go out alone, have her music played on State media, perform anywhere local, or even to take a permanent address. Still, she continued to write songs criticising the government, performing them overseas or at opposition political rallies. One of her party’s political missions is to unite currently divided Moorish and black Mauritanians. One of her personal crusades is to keep alive the Moorish music of her childhood and on her new CD (which means ‘light’), she does this by mixing the traditional sounds of her ardin (A Mauritanian harp played only by women) with more modern, electronic sounds. Цитата: Of all the mould-breaking female African singers currently pushing the boundaries of modern music rooted in tradition (and they do seem to mostly be female, don't they?), Mauritania's Malouma is probably the one pushing hardest, as those people who were either enthralled or appalled by the screeching rock guitar and keyboard fills of her previous release, Dunya, will testify.

With Nour, the West African griotte once again blends the traditional Moorish repertoire of her native country with Western instrumentation and arrangements. The key word here is 'blend', because on this album there is less discord between the two elements than there was on its predecessor, with Malouma's rich, guttural vocals, ardin (12-string harp), oud and percussion integrated more naturally with keyboards, acoustic guitar and equally conspicuous but far less voluminous lead guitar work by Pierre Fruchard.

It's the French guitarist who adds delicious rhythmic prompts to the groovy, chattering Nebine, with growing waves of feedback carrying Malouma's imploring vocal to an exultant climax. And if that effect just about manages to avoid outstaying its welcome, the brief wailing wall of sustain on the Tuareg-style Lemra is positively chased out of the room by the return to rousing, percussive call-and-response by the ensemble.

Elsewhere, Gamly is a funky slab of Arabic pop bubbling with guest jazz-fusionist Smadj's restless invention, and Kentawaiyate is a loping blues based on a traditional theme of life in the desert, driven by the spongy pulse of Loy Ehrlich's gumbass (a hybrid of the Moroccan guimbri and conventional bass). Ehrlich also adds soulful resonance to Malouma's lament on the sparse, poetic Nnew. Malouma's voice seems to improve with each recording she makes, and it really comes to the fore on Chtib, a song of unrequited love where the singer's range of emotions moves from a pleading near-sob to a controlled, defiant yowl of protest at life's unfairness. It's the highlight of a consistently rewarding CD brim full of ideas and invention, with just the right amount of experimentation to take some of us out of our world music comfort zones. A highlight of the year so far. Цитата: Every so often an album comes along that makes a reviewer do a double take.

This one, from Mauritanian singer Malouma, sparkles like a veritable diamond. Having commanded international attention with her previous album, Dunya, a recording that veers back and forth between desert folk and Afro-pop, Malouma takes things a step further on "Nour" (Light) with experimental verve and the help of some visionary soundmen.

Long an advocate of women's rights in a country not well known for them, Malouma brings her gutsy aesthetic to bear on a series of bluesy songs that both articulate her struggle and set a template for a new, stunning fusion of East and West. Recorded in France with Malouma's own band and guest musicians such as clarinettist-keyboard player Guillaume Humery, electric guitarist Pierre Fruchard and Bojan Z on the intriguingly titled Fender Rhodes 'Xenophone' - a hybrid instrument based on the electric piano, the album pays respect to tradition even as she weaves a path to the future.

Malouma's voice - timeless, hypnotic, alternately harsh and sweet - is the focus here.

Songs of love, loss and sensuality are delivered in guttural Arabic, with the same passion as pleas for religious tolerance ("Nebine") and ponderings on divine creation ("Nnew").

Sweet choruses vie and blend with snaky, shuddering rhythms, their trance-like quality underscored by Loy Ehrlich's 'gumbass' (a hybrid of Gnawa guenbri and bass guitar) and the deft sonic landscapes of Smadj - a man shaping up to be the Bill Laswell of desert blues.

Armed with her ardin harp (the traditional women's instrument of Mauritania), Malouma reveals herself as nothing if not multifaceted - an upbeat reggae track, "Casablanca", is impossibly catchy.

Singing in gutteral Arabic, she has a strong, slightly sandpapery voice emanating from deeply traditional roots, but it's often framed in very contemporary arrangements, with electronics and electric guitar alongside her traditional desert harp.
"Chtib" represents the traditional Saharan roots of her music and "Gamly" its more modernised form with programming by Smadj.

As a distinctive female voice of Africa, Malouma is a name to watch out for. Цитата: There's a French guitarist called Pierre Fruchard who has been listening to more Jimi Hendrix than is good for him. I'm sure he's a very nice guy, but if only he hadn't been invited to scribble over some of the tracks on this album, it might have been a minor masterpiece. As it is, we can skip around him and are left with a pretty good one.

Malouma is from Mauritania, the West African country that is mostly desert, right up to where it hits the Atlantic. Her melodies are from a similar musical background as Tinariwen's, but where their bluesy guitars mesh perfectly with the vocals, Fruchard's rock attack is as intrusive as a car alarm. 'Nebine' is potentially so marvellous I yearn for a service where one could request remixed versions of particular songs, tailored to personal preferences.

According to the sleeve notes, Malouma initially recorded the songs with her own group, then engineer Philippe Teissier du Cros spent some weeks adding other musicians. In many cases, their additions help, notably the oud played by Smadj on 'Nnew', whose melody evokes the American folk song 'Follow the Drinking Gourd'.

It's a relief when 'Chtib' unfolds without any intrusion, Malouma alternating with the backing vocalists, accompanied only by her own ardin, a stringed instrument unique to Mauritania. 'Casablanca' returns to Western cliche - Seventies reggae with no redeeming virtues - but the album finishes on a high with 'Lemra' and the title track.

Having seen Malouma live several times, I believe that she is one of the great singers of our time. She hasn't previously made the album to confirm such a claim and, unfortunately, this isn't the one to do so either. It does offer glimpses of a rare talent, but she needs to find somebody with better judgment about which Western sounds might suit her voice. - Charlie Gillett
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Доп. информация: Marabi 46819.2, 2007