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Nour
Malouma's new album, Nour, features a rich melting-pot of sounds with vibrant electric guitars and dance beats weaving in and out of traditional instruments and songs. The Mauritanian singer pulls off this astonishing mix with great dexterity, stirring vocals binding her diverse musical ingredients into a cohesive whole.
Tracks:
- Khayala
- Yemma
- Nebine
- Kentawiyate
- Gamly
- Nnew
- Yarab
- Habib
- Chtib
- Casablanca
- Lemra
- Nour
"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."
The Observer
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"Recorded in France with her own nine-strong band to provide plenty of Moorish authenticity, the sound is boldly augmented by the electric guitars of Pierre Fuchard, the keyboards of Bojan Z and the electronic programming of Smadj. From the chiming guitars of the lovely opener Khayala to the Islamic-gospel of the a cappella hymn that closes the album, the result is a rich melting pot of contrasting styles, bound into a cohesive whole by the striking tones of Malouma's keening voice. She also wrote all but one of the songs and is a composer of quite dazzling diversity: Gamly is a pounding, beat-laden monster; the rugged, haunting desert blues of Yarab will appeal to Tinariwen fans; Casablanca is a delightful slice of African reggae-pop; and the gentle, acoustic lullaby Habib is reminiscent of the work of the Algerian star Souad Massi.
Malouma's new album, Nour, features a rich melting-pot of sounds with vibrant electric guitars and dance beats weaving in and out of traditional instruments and songs. The Mauritanian singer pulls off this astonishing mix with great dexterity, stirring vocals binding her diverse musical ingredients into a cohesive whole.
Nour mines the same rich vein as Malouma's previous albums, featuring interesting musical mixes such as Gamly (where bass and pounding keyboards transform her into the modern queen of the dancefloor) and Yarab (with thrilling electric guitar solos set to a bluesy rhythm). Refusing all attempts at musical pigeon-holing, Mauritania's modern-day "griotte" cuts across musical genres, charming listeners with everything from an acoustic lullaby (Habib) and an a cappella melody (Nour) to a quirky reggae-pop fusion (Casablanca) and the nostalgia-infused ballad Yemma.
Malouma's distinctive voice runs throughout the album, pulling disparate musical threads together as she shows off her impressive vocal and emotional range, imbuing her songs with heartfelt joy and sadness, anger and tenderness. The desert diva was joined in the studio by a group of fifteen musicians, playing 'ud, drums, bass, percussion, guitars and the gumbass (a guimbri body with a bass-style neck) and special guest stars on the album include Bojan Z, the pianist Eric Legnini and clarinettist Guillaume Humery. Nour, produced by Philippe Teissier du Cros (renowned for his work with Magic Malik, Rokia Traoré and on Vincent Ségal's solo albums), comes as a veritable ray of sunshine - not surprising then to learn that the album title, "Nour", is an Arabic word meaning "light.
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