Customer Reviews

Music of the Sahara

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Surprisingly, this album barely rates a mention in the talk of Touareg music. It is a great album that has been noted as such in some quarters but it is completely neglected by others. The album received a starred (the highest) recommendation in The Rough Guide to World Music (Volume 1): Africa and the Middle East with the artist listed as Touareg de Fewet (which translates as Touareg from Fewet). However, the recommendation appeared in the chapter on Libya: The CD is not mentioned in the chapter on Niger and Touareg where all the other Touareg bands are cited (including groups from Mali and Algeria). Additionally, a great track from the CD, Tadzi-Out, appears on the Rough Guide to the Music of the Sahara CD with the artist listed as Chet Fewet.

The listing here in amazon.com is not really correct, although that seems to be mostly the record label's fault as they seem disinclined to credit the musicians. This CD, Musiques du Sahara, is not a "Various Artists" album as it is listed here; the music is clearly made by one group which the record company's website credits as Chet Fewet as does, in passing, the booklet in the CD. (Unfortunately, the CD's booklet is maddeningly uninformative.) According to the CD itself, the complete title of the CD is Libye: Musiques du Sahara, translated as Libya: Music from the Sahara Desert. These quibbles aside, the music on the CD is top notch.

The music is traditional but has a good deal of fire to it. It has many of the usual Touareg features: call-and-response singing with ululation over intricate percussion. The singing features a solitary male lead and a chorus of females providing the response vocals or at times singing the main vocal. The percussion (also done by the women) features hand-clapping, as well as, according to the booklet, "metal qaraqeb castanets and various membrane drums." The percussion has a strong traditional Touareg sound and in some songs is the finest I've ever heard. However, what sets this album apart from the other Touareg albums is the oud which plays through out each song. Unlike the guitar work of Tinariwen or Etran Finatawa, the oud is sometimes not the main instrument carrying the song, but instead is an equal of the percussion. In some tracks, the oud's rhythmic line is more important than its melodic line and it almost becomes a part of the percussion track. In other songs, the percussion provides a background to a melody featuring vocals and oud. This role for the oud allows the percussion to shine equally with the oud and with the singing.

This is a unique album that deserves to be heard and should be mentioned alongside the other great Touareg albums by Tinariwen, Etran Finatawa, and Tartit. Buy it now.