Brahim, Aziza - Sahari CD (Mega Blowout Sale)
SKU
23-GBCD 083
“Sahari may be Aziza Brahim’s best album to date. The 2019 album finds the Sahrawi artist, whose emigration to Spain lives on in her music, showing further advances even beyond the brilliance of Abbar El Hamada. Never truly a desert blues singer, there were always touches of that style in her slightly weathered but elegant voice, and that has been played against elements of Spanish and flamenco to give Brahim something truly fascinating and unique.
Sahari moves Brahim even further, and the listener may do a few double-takes. It is not merely that the electric guitars actually do get bluesier, but there are experiments with electronics here. To be sure, many African artists use electronics, and even combine them with more traditional sounds, but not only is this a departure from Brahim’s previous albums, it is a departure from that which gave Brahim her distinctive sound, which was the combination of those desert sounds with more acoustic Spanish elements. Had she moved in a more Western direction initially, in the manner of Songhoy Blues, one would hear her incorporation of electronics as a logical, natural extension. But Mali’s spirits of rebellion are a different act. Brahim’s sound was always more plaintively beautiful than raucous. So, huh? Yes, this is strange. This is a different direction. It could have been reckless, or it could be subtle and gentle. Given Brahim, it’s the latter. One listens, and the electric guitar comes in, harder than before. Electronics come in, almost ghostly. Behind Aziza’s voice, it sounds less like a radical departure than a clever change in perspective, and while the word, “clever,” can sometimes have negative connotations, as though what you observe is trickery more than insight, that is not the case here. Rather, Sahari is an album in which Brahim shows an evolving sound.”
- LabelGlitterbeat
- UPC4030433608326