Mes Racines

The son of Slah Mosbah, a celebrated singer among Tunisia's marginalised black community from the southern desert lands on the ancient trans-Saharan trade route, Sabry Mosbah now lives in France. But his debut solo album marks him out as a proud inheritor of the family tradition. Recorded peripatetically between Paris and Tunis, Mosbah's Berber roots-rock mixes stinging electric guitar riffs with traditional instrumentation; Western rock tropes buttress a pot pourri of Maghrebi influences drawn from Sufi ritual, Algerian rai, chaabi, Gnawa trance and Arab-Andalusian tradition. His voice is compelling, attractive and versatile. There's soulful emotion when he indulges his gentler side, singing about the pains of exile, the joys of love, or paying moving tribute to his motherland. On ‘Mansit’ he essays a pleasing Arabic folk-rock sound, like a Tunisian version of Cat Stevens. Then, when he cuts loose on the likes of ‘Mouch Menni’ (influenced by Tinariwen), ‘Ya Nass’ and ‘Herbe M’Denya’ he rocks as hard as Rachid Taha at his abrasive height, circa Made in Medina. Mosbah can’t be called a newcomer as such at the age of 36. But he's a genuine and important find.