Nuba Nova

Mehdi Haddab’s rai-punk outfit Speed Caravan have somewhat escaped my attention since their brilliant 2008 debut Kalashnik Love, but this album of classical Algerian malouf repertoire with master Hamdi Benani certainly made me prick up my ears. Although renowned as a classical singer and violinist, Benani was always a fearless innovator: the evidence is in the ease at which he twists his two instruments around whatever Speed Caravan throw his way.

The album starts with fairly standard rai fusion, but by the end of the first track it’s already evolved into Maghrebi psytrance led by Haddab’s Frampton-esque oud-vocoder. By then all bets are off. Sometimes there’s a distinctive Touareg vibe, or a Latin lilt, or a full-on surf-rock growl, but it’s always with an unmistakable Algerian aesthetic, whether in the gasba (flutes) or even the synths hitting all the tastiest quarter-tones in the maqam. All with that extra bit of punk attitude, of course. Nuba Nova ended up being Benani’s final project; he died of COVID-19 in September 2020. He was respected for pushing the boundaries, and this album does real justice to that legacy – as well as being a proper banger on its own merit.