From Saudi metal to Egyptian electro, here are some of the very best tracks of the last year from the Middle East and North Africa
“Tzenni” is a Hassaniya Arabic word meaning to spin or turn. It is also the name of the rotating dance performed to the music played by Moorish griots across the desert region of Mauritania. And on top of that it is also the title of an excellent new album by a preternaturally talented singer called Noura Mint Seymali which came out via Glitterbeat in June. The title track ended up being on constant rotation for me all year probably because of its vigorous clash of temporally and spatially diverse influences. Noura may come from a very long family line of griot artists but she is patently also a modernising, transformative force in Mauritanian music. It is audibly fair to say that she’s probably a fan of some Western pop and rock – as long as she can use those influences on her own terms.
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by John Doran via Electronic music | The Guardian
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