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Going in slightly a different direction this week, I've had this tune in mind for some time now, and was inspired by the World Beat session yesterday, to dip my toes into world music.
The following artist I discovered on the Black Hawk Down soundtrack. This song was not written for that movie, but I can understand why it was selected. It captures the volatile, hostile sense of the Mogadishu environs at the time (and probably still) in an aggressive but captivating fusion of American guitar sounds and Algerian rhythms.
The artist is Rachid Taha, an Algerian/French singer/songwriter who has been writing punk rock/Algerian African fusion of music for the past 20 years. He has been a social activist for most of his life... "lobbing musical molotovs at the latent and, as recent events have proved, not so latent racism of the French... whilst berating his fellow North Africans for lack of ambition, obsession with tradition, cabaret complacency and enslavement to rai."
(BBCi - www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/womad2002/biog_taha.shtml)
He sounds like my kind of guy. He picks on everyone, equally.
I don't speak Algerian, and only know that "barra" means bar (n) in Italian and bared (v) in French. Exactly what is specifically being said in the song, "Barra Barra" I can't say... but the music is driving, loud, and intoxicating, and I'm looking for his album work.
Enjoy... and play it LOUD.
I quickly found the current Rachid Taha album at the time, Made In Medina. It is beyond good. A truly powerful work. Check it out.
ReplyDeleteBarra... i don't know the exact translation, as I believe it is Algerian slang, but the roots b-r-a indicate "going" so... something to do with going.
ReplyDeleteProbably doesn't help much. The song is in Arabic, though the Algerian dialect is supposed to be pretty thick. Were you listening to the Woman festival? I really wanted to go when I lived in Scotland, but its seriously expensive. Maybe next time. But they do all kinds of great shows. Try Tinariwen, they have a similar sound. They're from Mali and are Tuareg (a Berber tribe), and started out as kind of a protest rock band. They mix traditional Tuareg music with electric guitars... they've done Woman several times, too.
Woman = Womad... oops. :-)
ReplyDeleteOk... trying this reply again.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Womad's first concert... 1982 I think... happened. It was a pretty big deal at the time, and got even more press when Gabriel's "So" came out in '85. I haven't paid attention to Womad in a long time. Thanks. I'll have to look it up.