
First published in The Herald on 25 March, 2015
Mali, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana: it doesn’t take a great deal of delving to tap into the musical riches of these countries. Thanks to a sprawling world music industry, with its major labels, trendy champions and touring infrastructures, we know of the desert blues of Bamako; the Afrobeat and global Naija pop hits of Lagos; the high-budget raï of Algiers; the classic swinging highlife of Accra.
But vast Mauritania, an Islamic Republic neighbouring Mali to the east, Algeria to the north and Senegal to the south, is less familiar on world music circuits. With sandstorms blowing in from the Sahara and cultural strains from across the Magreb and West Africa, Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott is where the sounds of Bamako, Dakar and Marrakesh find their trading routes. Mauritania has several indigenous musical styles: Pulaar, Wolof, Soninke and more, all overlapping histories and ethnicities with neighbouring countries. But the dominant ethnic group — the moors who give the country its name — have a classical music tradition that is singular and captivating. With poetic narratives sung in Hassaniya, a beguiling tonal system and unique instruments including the harp-like ardine, this music has been passed down for centuries in the hands and mouths of Mauritania’s musical nobility: the griots.
Continue reading →