Mauritanie

The liner notes declare with stark and admirable honesty that Coumbane Mint Ely Warakane isn't a marquee name in her native Mauritania. And that the traditional approach of this CD, with its brittle tidnit lute lines and fluttering ardin harp melodies isn't really the sound of the moment back home in Nouakchott, especially among the headphoned-up youth. Nevertheless, any fan of the traditional end of Mauritanian music will be happy that producer Michel Guignard chose to point his mic at this particular vocalist. Her voice is rich, supple and bewitching, a fine example of that blend of raw power and intricacy that the best Mauritanian vocalists can magic into being. And there's plenty of virtuosity fizzling away in the background, especially in the tidnit playing of Cheikh Ould Abba.

This would be a five-star recording were it not for a power deficit in the production. Whereas Coumbane's voice is allowed to let rip and soar, the backing track is pinned back and tamed. You're forced to admire the notes from a certain distance, rather than feeling them buzz around your inner ear as they should. It's a shame, because the raw material is definitely there. It just needs to be rawer: like a delicious-looking stew packed with all the right ingredients, but lacking in spices and oil. Furthermore, whilst the aim of the Inédit series of releases by the Maison des Cultures du Monde in Paris is to ‘promote endangered or unknown world musical heritage, they should beware of attempting to preserve that heritage in aspic. Music survives only when it's allowed to grow and adapt to life around it. Recordings by other Mauritanian stars such as Malouma and Mariem Hassan have understood this principle better, even though Coumbane Mint Ely Warakane most definitely has a voice that can compete with the best.