Bab L’ Bluz
Gnawa, the devotional music of North Africa, is experiencing (just as American Gospel once did) a transformation into a popular form. Putting a woman, Yousra Mansour, front and centre of a Gnawa-derived band is still a radical step and in doing so this Franco-Moroccan quartet have struck gold. Nayda! is marvellously fresh and invigorating – both funky and trancey, gleaming with confidence, and teeming with melodies and ideas.