Akal

Tarwa N-Tiniri were born in Ouarzazate, Morocco’s ‘door of the desert’ and Akal marks their second album. Its title translates as ‘Land’ in Tamazight and serves a poetic expedition into the roots of Moroccan Amazigh culture. This is a desert blues album at heart and despite the genre being (one might argue) overdone, Akal maintains a pleasant freshness that reflects the band’s youth. Tarwa N-Tiniri are five friends – Hamid Ait Ahmed on lead guitar and vocals, Smail Ait Nacer on bass, Mustapha Ait Ba on vocals, Youssef Ait Nacer on percussion and El Mokhtar Ait Nacer on rhythm guitar – and Akal was recorded in their hometown village of Hassi Labied. The album is suffused with the inherent charm of desert blues and is at risk of being too pleasant and familiar. There are shining moments of experimentation such as on ‘Adu’ which features Simon Walls and subtle joiking from Norwegian Sámi singer Elin Kåven or on the opener ‘Aghbalu’ (also featuring Thijs Borsten) which features some haunting piano and what sounds like muted throat-singing in the background. ‘Adrar’ starts off sounding almost like an Amazigh ‘Hallelujah’ before picking up into the signature desert blues lope. But it doesn’t feel like these interesting ideas are really dug into with conviction (these are the first three tracks and the remaining ten more or less sound like any other desert blues album). Moroccan singer Nukad shows up on the penultimate track, ‘Tenere’, but it unfortunately quickly devolves into pop mushiness. Akal is a pleasant if not ground-breaking album, but one hopes Tarwa N-Tiniri will lean harder into the unique ideas of the first few tracks for the next release.