BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES

Nayda! by Bab L’ Bluz showcases the band’s distinctive Moroccan psych sound

The band was formed in 2018 as a tribute to Gnawa culture and music

The summer festival season has been cancelled as have many major sporting events. Under the current Covid-19 measures, some events like the Notting Hill Carnival in London, which is usually held at the end of August each year, have gone online. Sound systems and steel bands will still perform live but revellers will only be able to enjoy them online.

But while festivals may have taken a time-out this year, there are plenty of summer releases to keep you well-stocked with good music — an essential component of any strategy to beat those “lockdown blues”.

This month’s Transglobal World Music Chart showcases a wide range of new releases. The top rank goes to Bosnian Sevdah master Damir Imamovic with his

Singer Of Tales album. Imamovic is an acknowledged master of Sevdah, a form of traditional folk music from Bosnia and Herzegovina that can be found in many countries of the former Yugoslavia. He possesses a beautiful voice that is accompanied by a string ensemble which features Turkish musicians all under the watchful ears of veteran producer Joe Boyd and Grammy-winning engineer Jerry Boys. Described as a “chronicler of pain and joy”, Imamovic has brought international attention to this haunting genre of music.

But it is the new entrant at No.2 on the chart, Bab L’ Bluz, described by their record label as a “Moroccan-French power quartet”, that really caught my attention. As long-time readers know, I’m not the biggest fan of rock music but some rock bands — and this is one of them — have that something else that seems to blur the boundaries. And Nayda! is an amazing debut album.

The band has a female lead singer, Yousra Mansour, fronting the band which is unusual and provocative to some in Morocco. The band’s distinctive sound is created by two bass guembri stringed instruments (Yousra plays the smaller version of the instrument, the awicha, and she plays it like a guitar), a local flute, Berber percussion and a rolling mesmeric trance-like groove that goes back to Gnawa (and the band will definitely get called “Moroccan psych”). In fact, the band was formed in 2018 as a tribute to Gnawa culture and music, which has strong musical roots and links to West Africa, especially Mali. Gnawa music, a favourite from my trips to Morocco when I was a student has featured in several columns over the years.

The band also aims to change mindsets and attitudes, an objective that sits well with the local “nayda” youth art/music movement, which focuses on issues that are important to the younger generation. All the tracks are excellent and the first single from the album,

Ila Mata, was inspired by a Tunisian poet. As Mansour explains in the liner notes: “They aim to awaken sleeping consciousness of individuals indoctrinated by racist statements and who consider humans superior to others. It is a call to search for what can unite us instead of going towards everything that divides us.” Highly recommended.

Another interesting album is the eponymously titled

Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn. This one is an East-West collaboration between Wu Fei, a Chinese guzheng (a zither somewhat similar to the Thai kim but bigger) master and country musician and banjo maestro Abigail Washburn. The two friends have created a beautiful sound that includes incredible virtuoso playing and unusual lyrics and singing in both English and Chinese. If you liked the hugely popular collaboration between the Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and West African kora player Seckou Keita on their album Saor, then check out the Fei-Washburn album.

Another fascinating collaboration on the chart is

Call To Prayer, a musical meeting between Tunisian singer Ghalia Benal and contrabass player Romina Lischaka. The singer said in recent interviews that the title is not really a call to prayer but more a call to listen. The music on the album is haunting and blends contemporary notes with music that stretches back to the 17th century.

A few months ago I noted that Reunion Island singer Danyel Waro’s latest album had not turned up on any charts. His Tinn Tout album is a beautiful set of songs; if you like The Dancing Devils Of Djibouti (which made the top 10 this month), which reveals some of the sounds at the western edge of the Indian Ocean, then check out Waro, whose music offers something different. My favourite music video at the moment is yet another gem from those Tokyo-based genre-benders, Minyo Crusaders, who last year went to Colombia to team up with cumbia band Frente Cumbiero. There are several excellent music videos of this cross-cultural adventure and my favourite from these sessions is

Cumbia Del Monte Fuji. Highly recommended.