Quote:
Originally Posted by Schizotypic
Finally, after months, got my hands on these... why did I never check the comments or other blogs?
A couple pretty strange but beautiful tapes from Guelmim, Morocco, if you liked Conan's post on G.S Sachdev (which I much prefer because India > Africa) then these might be worth tracking down. Kind of creepy to sleep to though.... and I woke up the next morning sick. Try them out.
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It says they're from Mauritania on the cover, anyway, seems cool. I'm downloading it.
Edit:
I listened to it. Definitely Tarab, music that is used to meditate or to just to trip to (notable Tarab singer: Oum Koultoum). That's why all songs are ~20 minutes long, repeating usually the same sentence.
Now it would've been much greater if they used a bouzouk or a Oud, or any of the traditional acoustic instruments, but I guess their whole concept was to inject some western vibe with the electric guitar. I guess that's why you made a bad trip listening to them.
Tho what I liked in that music, and which was bound to happen due to Mauritania's position in the world. An Arabic country, on the north of Senegal and the south of Morocoo, like the separation of very different cultures. So these identities were merged to build some kind of mix of the traditional Arabic Tarab with the African, plus in some places we can hear the Moroccan Rai. If well arranged and recorded, I say this has the potential to be great.