Carmen París y Nabyla Maan – Dos Medinas Blancas (Fol, 2017)
Dos Medinas Blancas is an album that features two outstanding vocalists, Carmen París (Spain) and Nabyla Maan (Morocco). Carmen is well-known in Spain for her vocals skills and her combinations of Spanish traditional music like jota and flamenco with jazz and world music. She’s also a composer and songwriter. Meanwhile, Nabyla Maan is a young and rising talent with a beautiful voice that brings her Moroccan roots to the mix. Nabyla also composes music and writes her own songs.
The album features songs in Spanish and Arabic, brilliantly fuses the musical influences from the two countries and includes musicians and musical instruments from both cultures.
The lineup includes Carmen París and Nabyla Maan on vocals; Tarik Hilal on Spanish guitar; Mahmoud “Chouki” on mandola, banjo and outar; Peter Oteo on electric bass; Borja Barrueta on drums; and Pablo Martín Jones on pamderos (frame drums), caxixi, darbuka and cajón.
The CD is nicely packaged and includes liner notes in Spanish, English and French.
Dos Medinas Blancas is also a musical project that was co-produced and presented live by two music festivals, L’Boulevard in Morocco and Pirineos Sur in Spain.
Dos Medinas Blancas is a splendid, masterfully performed album that brings together the musics of Spain and Morocco and two of their finest vocalists.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
