“M’berra” is the new album from Khalab & M’berra Ensemble. The recording features a collective of Malian musicians from the M’berra Refugee Camp in southeast Mauritania along with Italian electronic music producer Khalab. In a large tent city rising out of the desert, at the border with Mali, the group’s Arab and Tuareg members make music.
Raffaele Constantino a.k.a. Khalab is a producer with a psychedelic angle and deep appreciation of African music and Afro-futurism. Among the many musicians in the M’berra Ensemble are Amano Ag Issa and Mohammed Issa Ag Oumar of Tartit, the eminent group from the Timbuktu region of northern Mali. They use gritty vocals, electric guitars and traditional instruments like the tehardent lute, and the single-string imzad.
Khalab has collaborated with Baba Sissoko. His essential album is 2018’s Black Noise 2084 (On the Corner).
The album is available on CD, deluxe gatefold vinyl and digital.
Buy M’berra