Good heavens, this album is stunning.
Mdou Moctar returns to once again shred on guitar, spread the love and joy of Tuareg music, and spread the word of struggles in his Algerian homeland on Afrique Victime.
Opening track “Chismiten” bursts with so much energy that any sound system, no matter how hi-fi, can barely contain it. Moctar’s guitar swirls around you like a dust devil that eventually grows strong enough to lift you off the ground. He adds a cool echo effect to his guitar on “Taliat,” and the group vocals are immediately uplifting.
“Ya Habibti” backs the mantra-like vocals with hand claps and hand percussion while Moctar plays slightly amped acoustic / electric chords. “Tala Tannam” is downright dreamy. “Asditke Akal” is a stunner with its psychedelic riffs reaching to the heavens. Moctar and his band then switch it up on “Layla,” which (thankfully) isn’t a cover of the vastly overrated Clapton tune, but rather an acoustic, hypnotic song you might hear around a desert fire.
The title track is a powerful one about the plight of women in Algeria (as noted by the album’s cover depicting a crying woman), with some of Moctar’s most soaring guitar work that stretches its mighty wings for over seven minutes. The closing track, “Bismilahi Atagah” is beautiful in its simplicity as Moctar and his bandmates sing what sounds like a song of praise for blessings received and ones to come.
This might be Moctar’s best album yet, and that’s saying something when you consider the first two were excellent in their own right.
Keep your mind open.
[Why not subscribe before you go?]
