Every Friday, The World Africa presents three new musical releases from or inspired by the continent. This week, head to Morocco with the latest releases from Alright Mela, Bab L’Bluz and EYM Trio.
« Tasamoh », d’Alright Mela
Accept the difference. This is, in essence, the message carried throughout the seven pieces of Tasamoh (“tolerance”, in Arabic), the new EP from the trio Alright Mela, which brings together two Angevins, Markus and Cheb Xavi, and a Moroccan, the singer and guembri player Jaouad El Garouge. Released at the end of May, their opus mixing electronic modernity and Gnawa tradition invites reflection on themes such as migration, wars, discrimination or poverty.
The video for the eponymous song features a transgender dancer in Lahore, Pakistan: the object of all eyes in the street, she finds an escape through music, which allows her to free her body and mind.
“Iwaiwa Funk”, Bab L’Bluz
“We love the energy of rock. You plug in your instrument and you drive people crazy,” says Brice Bottin, one of the four members – alongside Moroccan singer Yousra Mansour, Ibrahim Terkemani and Jérôme Bartolome – of Bab L’Bluz, whose second album, weak, was published in early May.
Between rock, therefore, but also blues, funk, folk and North African trance rhythms, the group tackles, armed in particular with an electric mandola and a ribab (Berber monostring violin), serious subjects such as Moroccan laws on inheritance or gender inequalities. The piece Iwaiwa Funk, him, aims to remind us that ” life is short “ et “futile resentment”.
« Casablanca », d’EYM Try
“E” for pianist Elie Dufour, “Y” for double bassist Yann Phayphet, “M” for drummer Marc Michel. For nearly fifteen years, through tours and collaborations around the world, EYM Trio has breathed a nomadic spirit into the world of jazz.
After Bangalore (2022), which referred to the large city in southern India, the group has been offering its fifth album since mid-May, Casablanca, in which he rubs shoulders with oriental music in the broad sense and, in the eponymous title, with Moroccan sounds in particular. A musical journey accompanied visually by the designer Simon Lamouret, who created the album cover and the music video for the song.
Read also | Out of frame: the musical selection from “World Africa” #192
Add to your selections
Find all of the editorial staff’s musical favorites in the YouTube playlist of World Africa.
The Convivencia festival, concerts along the water
We will find a little bit of Morocco along the Canals du Midi, from June 29 to July 23, during the Convivencia traveling festival, which includes around twenty concerts along the water, in Montech (Tarn-et-Garonne ) to Frontignan (Hérault).
Thus, on July 3 in Toulouse, it is the Franco-Moroccan Sami Galbi who will set the tempo with his fusion of raï, chaabi and electro. Then, on July 19 in the hamlet of Somail (Aude), Dighya Mohammed Salem will sing the beauty of Western Sahara – a territory claimed by Morocco – and the sufferings of exile.
Among the other African artists present in Occitanie during this festival, let us also mention the South African rapper Stogie T (July 3 in Toulouse) and his compatriot Pilani Bubu, accompanied by the group Marthe (July 11 in Renneville, in Haute-Garonne ). The complete program can be found on the Convivencia website.
