More cross-pollination is evident in BAB EL OUED KINGSTON by Gnawa Diffusion. As the title implies, it's a hybrid of traditional Moroccan music with Jamaican dancehall-style toasting grafted on. Amaz, the lead singer plays guimbri -- the traditional North African lute and ancestor of the guitar. The other band members are all multi-instrumentalists. The lyrics are in Tagnawit (I guess) and French, with an occasional recognizable dash of English ("Turbo, Valium, Hollywood, Mike Tyson") and comment on the unstable state of Algeria and everyday problems like curfews, stores being shut, potholes in the road, the need to score cannabis. The tracks alternate between traditionally scored and drum-and-synth-driven ones and of course occasionally fuse both styles, as on "H'moun Zawalia" a lament for the plight of Africa today. The purely traditional tracks, like "Chara' Allah" are outstanding, but the sequencing is so good that the album flows like a magic carpet ride, dipping in and out of different musical moods. There are even a few samples and snippets of ambient sound to add a Berber authenticity to the more rock-oriented tracks.
The final track "Gazel au fond de la nuit" uses a moving poem by the great French poet Louis Aragon about the fragility of love; the atmospheric interepretation by Gnawa Diffusion is a fitting reverie-infused coda to this wonderful new release.
01 Madanga 02 Ouvrez Les Stores 03 Kabariou 04 Bab El Oued Kingston 05 H'moum Zawalia 06 Syndikaina 07 Chara'Allah 08 Daka Bambara 09 Sabrina Gaz Naturel 10 Gazel Au Fond De La Nuit
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