Name: Soutak
Brand: Aziza Brahim

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

GB009LP

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

LP+CD

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Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2010-04-13

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Forced Exposure

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

4030433600917

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Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Aziza Brahim

Genre US

African

Label US

Glitterbeat

Aziza Brahim is a Saharawi singer born in a refugee camp in Algeria. She started her career by recording for the Saharawi National Radio in the refugee camps of the self-proclaimed Saharawi state. She then toured outside the camps, performing in Mauritania and Algeria as part of the National Saharawi Music Group.
Currently, Aziza Brahim is working with her new group Gulili Mankoo. Their music combines Western Sahara melodies, Senegalese rhythms, blues, and rock to create a unique sound that captivates audiences worldwide.
With her powerful vocals and thought-provoking lyrics, Aziza Brahim continues to be an influential figure in the music industry, spreading awareness about the struggles faced by refugees and using her platform to advocate for justice and equality.

Gatefold LP version. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl, includes a CD copy of the album. Voiced with passion and grace, Aziza Brahim's music adeptly travels the expanse between her Western Saharan roots and Barcelona, the European cosmopolis where she now lives. Aziza is both a contemporary sonic poet and a prominent and eloquent spokesperson for the Saharawi people and their ongoing struggle for recognition and justice. Born and raised in the Saharawi refugee camps lining the frontier between Algeria and Western Sahara, Aziza's life has been marked by both daunting hardship and inspired will. Fleeing from these camps and the regime of political oppression that followed Morocco's 1975 invasion of Western Sahara, as a young teenager Aziza travelled to Cuba for her secondary school studies. There she experienced first-hand the deep Cuban economic crisis of the 1990s and the subsequent denial of her request to pursue a university degree in music. Music had been Aziza's passion since she was a small girl and despite this setback, she returned to the Saharawi camps in Algeria and began singing and playing in different musical ensembles, a process that continued when she moved to Spain in the year 2000. There she founded the eclectic Saharawi/Spanish band Gulili Mankoo with whom she released two acclaimed self-produced recordings: the EP Mi Canto (2008) and an album Mabruk (2012), both on Reaktion. In recent years Aziza has performed extensively, appearing at major festivals and venues including WOMAD Cáceres (2012) and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London (2009). Aziza's album Soutak (trans. "Your Voice"), her debut for the Glitterbeat label, is her first recording to predominantly focus on the cadence of her majestic voice and the soulful critique of her lyrics. The album was produced by Chris Eckman (Tamikrest, Ben Zabo,Dirtmusic) and was recorded live and direct in Barcelona in June of 2013. In the liner notes to the album, Aziza describes her vision for Soutak: "Feeling the need to make an acoustic record, I imagined a somewhat modest musical outline, which would not involve too many instruments and in which the voices would take the expressive emotional lead. I wanted to further explore the range of possibilities found in the Haul, the Saharawi's traditional rhythmic sources, played on the tabal and a source of inspiration for the desert blues." The hand-picked band she assembled for the album consists of Spaniards Nico Roca (percussion) and Guillem Aguilar (bass), Malian Kalilou Sangare (acoustic lead guitar), Aziza's sister Badra Abdallahe (backing voice) and in addition to singing, Aziza contributes acoustic rhythm guitar and the tabal, the traditional Saharawi hand-drum. The music on Soutak is a powerful and nuanced mixture of musical cultures and features Malian, Spanish, Cuban and contemporary Anglo-European motifs all held together by Aziza's deeply rooted knowledge of traditional Saharawi song and sound. Though the songs on Soutak can be unsparing in their details of oppression, Aziza Brahim has delivered an empowered flight to freedom; an alternative world where hope is imminent and dancing is justified.

Soutak

Music US