Sequana

Since winning best newcomer at the inaugural BBC Radio 3 World Music awards 20 years ago, Massi’s career has followed a somewhat spotty trajectory, but this reviewer hailed her last album Oumniya as not only a major return to form but her finest since her 2001 debut Raoui. The even better news is that she has surpassed herself with Sequana, which from first to last sounds like a career landmark. It’s also her most eclectic and adventurous set to date and for that producer Justin Adams must surely take some of the credit for coaxing Massi out of her comfort zone.

Without detracting from the mellifluous acoustic Arabic folk/chaabi style that is her trademark, ‘Mirage’ is a slow blues featuring Piers Faccini; ‘Dib El Raba’ has a country dance lilt; the title-track is a folk ballad one could imagine Joan Baez singing; ‘Twam’ is a hypnotic rocker and ‘Ch’ta’ looks to Brazil for its swaying bossa nova rhythms. Most striking of all is a deathless version of ‘Hurt’, written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and famously covered by Johnny Cash. Over the insistent beat of a frame drum and some haunting flute from Syria’s Naïssam Jalal, Massi sings the lyrics in Arabic with an emotion that is almost scary.