Tzenni (Glitterbeat, 2014)
There are all sorts of female vocals out there. There are the pop divas whose vocals trill endlessly up and down scales with the same ferocity of a cat after a laser pointer. There are the sweetly, angelic vocals that are laid out over quietly lush tracks like a sticky treacle. There are the ubiquitous pop queen du jour who all sound like mice fed a steady diet of cocaine laced sugar. Each type has their place as mood and music demand. But the female vocals that most catch my attention are the full-throated vocals of women with something to sing about – women with substance.
While skilled, some of the more popular vocals always strike me as contrived, where with rawer vocals there’s no place to hide the real woman. So, when Mauritania’s Noura Mint Seymali’s Tzenni, out on the Glitterbeat label on June 20th, turned up in my review stack I found myself completely blown away. For any unsuspecting listener that sly, knowing half smile Ms. Seymali wears on the cover of Tzenni as she poses with her ardin is more than an invitation – it’s a warning because the delicious bite of her music and vocals are bad ass cool. This is a musician and vocalist of substance.
Belting out what’s being called Mauritanian Blues, backed by her husband, guitarist and tidinit (similar to a guitar) player Jeiche Ould Chighaly, bassist Ousmane Toure, drummer Matthew C. Tinari and her own work on the electrified ardin (a stringed gourd instrument similar a harp), Ms. Seymali pounds out a sound that’s potent and downright feisty. After appearances on compilations like Globalfest Selector and Live from Festival au Desert, Timbuktu and a spot on La Cafetera Roja’s Refugi Tape, listeners get a full force dose of Ms. Seymali on Tzenni and from the get go understand her growing popularity in advance for her upcoming North American tour.
From the opening track of Tzenni, twangy blues eek against Ms. Seymali’s extraordinarily powerful vocals and it becomes apparent that this is not the roughed over blues of the desert blues but something carefully crafted from Ms. Seymali’s griot ancestors and the Moorish musical background of Mr. Chighaly against contemporary rock feel of bass and drums. Tracks like the fiery opening “Eguetmar” and the ardine-laced title track “Tzenni” serve to set the tone for this razor sharp recording. Follow-up tracks like “El Madi,” with additional ardin work from Mr. Chighaly and backing vocals from Mayass Hemed Vall, “El Mouglemen” with its slick guitar licks and “Char’aa” swirl hip deep in a blazing hipness as Ms. Seymali gives it all she’s got with some spectacular full-throated vocals that race up the spine and raise the hairs on the back of your neck.
With Tzenni, Ms. Seymali puts Mauritanian blues squarely on the musical map.
Fans should be sure to check the tour dates to see if tickets are available.
July 5th – Summerstage, New York, NY
July 9th – Cleveland Museum, Cleveland, OH
July 11th – Old Town School of Folk, Chicago, IL
July 12th – Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, Manitoba
July 14th – City of Chicago Millenium Park, Chicago, IL
July 15th – Riverside Concerts, Rochester, MN
July 18th – Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver, BC
July 22nd – The Triple Door, Seattle, WA
July 24th – The Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
July 25th – Calgary Folk Music Festival, Calgary, AB
July 30th – The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
August 1st – Artisphere, Arlington, VA
August 2nd – Princeton, NJ
August 8th – Beloved Festival, Tidewater, OR
Buy Tzenni digital download
Buy Tzenni CD in Europe
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
