Knou

Malouma Mint Meidah is a remarkable woman. She is a griot and a fine singer from Mauritania who has used her musical skills to campaign for women's rights and environmental issues. It was no surprise that she should become a politician, elected to the Mauritanian senate in 2007, but that has not stopped her musical career. She has always been keen to experiment, mixing the music of the Sahara with blues, R&B and even gospel influences, as she proved with her excellent album Dunya in 2003 (reviewed in #20 and one of Songlines’ 50 Essential African Albums). She is still in powerful voice on this latest set, but the Western influences are now becoming less interesting.

The album starts well, with the insistent, slinky ‘Deyar’, on which she is backed by her own harp-like ardine and keyboards. The next track, ‘Goueyred’ introduces the young rapper Sankofa, and from then on the album becomes an uneasy fusion. There are too many songs dominated by keyboards and programming. There are some impressive songs here: the powerful, sparse title-track, featuring voice, ardine and hand percussion; and the cool, gently driving ‘Rbeyna’ (which appears once with Spanish-influenced guitar backing, and then again featuring the excellent Orchestre National de Barbès).