Eritrean song via Lakpohsti

Inspired by the video and this excellent map from Strange Maps, I began to ponder on how utterly ridiculous it is that the Westerns Societies take Africa as one big culture when there’s more than one culture living in different countries save the whole continent. Therefore today’s selection covers a few albums that I’ve found out last year, namely Mali’s Tartit (which means unity and not your sordid imagination), Mauritania’s Khalifa Ould Eide & Dimi Mint Abba and the South African percussion ensemble Amampondo.

The desert blues ethos perfected by the late master Ali Farka Touré is all present in Tartit’s music which speaks of hope and peace as much as the apparent hardships of the Sahara peninsula. What else would you expect from an ensemble who met in a refugee camp in Burkina Faso.

Their neighbours from Mauritania Dimi Mint Abba and Khalifa Ould Eide still have the hot desert air in their music yet the effect of Islam, Arabic and the fact that they are not a landlocked nation like Mali has a strong influence on their culture. The Moorish music is a predecessor of Flamenco and this rare album, supposedly the first studio quality one to be recorded of Moorish music, is a good way to trace that.

You’d be hard pressed not to realize the contrasting tones of Amampondo, who are renowned to be a favourite of Nelson Mandela, comes from a more humane climate and a relatively more civilised way of life. The laidback rhythms and bluesy wailings of the Saharan region give way to uptempo rhythms and joyous vibes here. This one’s from the African Classics compilation series on Sheer Sounds.

Amampondo – Seng’ Inkomo

#68.3 – Crammed Series – Tartit
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