Sirupartige
Harmonien

No so far off jazz and with a very particular consistency. In Mabrouk, Majid Bekkas is again beautifully accompanied by two other sound magicians: Ablaye Cissoko the red griot on kora and Khalid Kouhen on percussions. The Moroccan musician uses his signature instrument, the guembri, as a spokesperson for all the poetry he carries within himself. This poetry is mixed with the soft sounds of the kora, sometimes with the aquatic sounds of the tablas, as well as the gnawa lyricism of the 'ud.

Taken as whole, the album allow us to feel the delicious sensations of a voyage beyond the cultural frontiers of each of the participating musicians.

The repertory is a joint effort based on an intelligent alternation between Bekkas compositions and traditional themes. Equally fascinating is when songs are brought by an interplay of Majid Bekkas himself with choirs, topped with a succession of improvisations by the different instruments present. This magnificent opus lets us believe that a musical reunification between the North and the South of the Sahara is possible and testifies of a willingness of the Senegalese griot Ablaye Cissoko to make his instrument sound North African. This is a genuine African dream-like trip!

The polyrhythms of Gnawa music have long lent themselves to jazz: Pharaoh Sanders, Don Cherry and Bill Laswell all famously experimented with this timeless, spellbinding genre – as have a host of bluesmen. The annual Gnawa World Music Festival in Essaouira positively encourages such aural cross-fertilisation: collaborations between Gnawa maalems, the masters of the three-string gimbri lute, and a host of musicians from Europe and the US have been variously brilliant, mediocre and just occasionally embarrassing (which is never, it must be said, the fault of the maalem).

Abdelmajid Bekkas knows his fusion; the Sale, Morocco-based maalem has exchanged musical ideas with such big jazz names as Archie Shepp. But his teaming on Mabrouk with the Senegalese kora (harp-lute) player Ablaye Cissoko is a pairing that would go down well in Essaouira. The Gnawa are the descendents of West African slaves. Mahmoud Gania put last year’s fluid performance with Senegalese/Mauritanian musician Daby Touré down to the fact that they were ‘brothers.’ Deftly backed by Khalid Kouhen on percussion and backing vocals, the two men embark on a discussion that sparkles and thunders. Five of the eight tracks are traditional; arranged by Bekkas, sprightly opener ‘Banya’ sets the tone as it pits the tumbling crystals of Cissoko’s kora against the profound chords of the gimbri. ‘Salya’, a track by Mande group Touré Junda, gets a new arrangement. OK, so the syrupy harmonies of ‘Le Monde à L’Envers’ won’t be to everyone’s tastes. But majestic closing number ‘Hommage Aux Ancestres’, with its funky slap-gimbri, more than compensates. (Jane Cornwell, www.sonflines.co.uk)

Majid Bekkas, Quembri, Oud, Guitar, Vocals
Ablaye Cissoko, Kora, Vocals
Khalid Kouhen, Percussion, Vocals