BRAHIM, AZIZA - Sahari (LP+CD) (Sealed) (LP)

An album against the normalization of injustice. "Sahari" by Aziza Brahim is a powerful plea for humanity and understanding, the sovereign fusion of politics and privacy and a perfect balancing act between Saharawi tradition and Western style elements. Personal experience and politics are rarely so closely interwoven as in the music of Aziza Brahim. The Saharawi singer grew up in a refugee camp in western Algeria under difficult conditions, discovered music early and became one of the most important voices for the concerns and fates of refugees and displaced persons worldwide. "Sahari", her third Glitterbeat album, is her best and most adventurous work to date. It was written in Spain, for Aziza Brahim both in exile and in her adopted home, and while the songs remain anchored in her home country, Aziza Brahim's view is becoming increasingly global. Thus the tabal drum (for Aziza Brahim "the heart of Saharawi music") remains the determining element for the sound and guitars and vocals are the main elements, but the traditional and organic sounds on "Sahari" are combined and mixed with electronic sound. As a result, the album is a fine balance between past and present, keeping the balance between African and European music. Aziza Brahim succeeds in giving the personal a political dimension and behind an indifferent politics he shows human destinies - this is courageous and important, but also poetic, tender and melancholic.