Empreinte

Named after the mountain sheep of the Atlas, which are regarded as a symbol of freedom by Berber (Amazigh) people, Oudaden have become ambassadors for their culture, not only playing at thousand of local celebrations in Morocco, but touring the world to take their music far beyond the boundaries of the Maghreb. The traditional percussion of bendir, darbuka and tam tam, the hypnotic rhythms and the call-and-response vocals are all rooted deep in Berber tradition and have an evident connection to Gnawa trance music. But, like the Tamashek bands from a little further south in the Sahel such as Tinariwen, they’ve added electric guitar (played in the same single¬note style by Larbi Boukharmous) to create an easily accessible entry point for Western audiences raised on rock’n’roll. Lead singer Abdellah El Foua plays a western banjo rather than the more customary oud, but the non-trad instruments are so fully integrated that there’s nothing on Empreinte that you could describe as fusion. The guitar lends a fluidity that means the trance-like rhythms never become rigid, and there’s a wonderful cohesion and single-minded focus to the eight tracks.

Sung soulfully in the Tachelhit language, they apparently tell of ‘the small stories of daily life’ of the Shluh Berbers. Sadly, despite otherwise excellent and informative liner notes explaining the cultural and historical background of Amazigh music, no translations of the lyrics are provided.