Spurred on in part by the general rise of West and North African music on the world circuit (and perhaps more closely the rise of Malian Tuareg band
Tinariwen),
Sublime Frequencies'
Music from Niger does an outstanding job of showing both the old and the new in music from the desert. The first half of the album is a stunning set of guitar and vocal music extraordinarily similar to some of the best parts of
Ali Farka Toure's catalog, but with some running commentary from young
Omara Mochtar (
Bombino) and a few camels. Perhaps the main difference between
Group Bombino's acoustic set and that of the Malian greats is the accompanying clapping -- taking a note from the North African sound (and perhaps the Gnawa sect more specifically), the group claps sharply and relentlessly, mimicking the qaraqebs essential to some of the North African styles. When the band turns electric in the second half of the album, the difference is surprising. Not just an amplification of the desert sound they had been fostering, the electric Tuareg sound is psychedelic, dense. The rhythms are similar, the melodies are similar, but there's a massive backdrop of funk and rock. The clapping is replaced with a trap drum; the shouted lyrics get lost behind a swirl of feedback and guitar solos.
Mochtar gets a chance to show off a firm passion in his playing here as well -- the sound isn't clean, the recordings are a little hazy, but the intensity of
Mochtar's playing is incredible. ~ Adam Greenberg
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