AZIZA BRAHIM - Forced Exposure

$15.50 IN STOCK

Sahrawi singer-songwriter activist Aziza Brahim's fifth album Mawja ("wave" in Hassaniya Arabic) is fashioned from a simple but powerful foundational palette: Saharan and Iberian percussion entwining with stately guitars and warm, enveloping bass. Co-produced by Brahim with long-time collaborator Guillem Aguilar, the record from her oeuvre that Mawja most sonically resembles is her revered and graceful debut Soutak (GB 009LP, 2014). That noted, there is a confident eclecticism found here, an expansive take on her vision that even includes a drum pattern inspired by the Clash. Brahim's voice, as always, is a wellspring of deep and resonant emotions. The yearning for homeland. The struggle for freedom. The love for one's elders. The unfurling of time. Waves of history, waves of sound. Mawja.

$28.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Sahrawi singer-songwriter activist Aziza Brahim's fifth album Mawja ("wave" in Hassaniya Arabic) is fashioned from a simple but powerful foundational palette: Saharan and Iberian percussion entwining with stately guitars and warm, enveloping bass. Co-produced by Brahim with long-time collaborator Guillem Aguilar, the record from her oeuvre that Mawja most sonically resembles is her revered and graceful debut Soutak (GB 009LP, 2014). That noted, there is a confident eclecticism found here, an expansive take on her vision that even includes a drum pattern inspired by the Clash. Brahim's voice, as always, is a wellspring of deep and resonant emotions. The yearning for homeland. The struggle for freedom. The love for one's elders. The unfurling of time. Waves of history, waves of sound. Mawja.

$15.50 IN STOCK

On the front cover of Saharawi singer-songwriter and activist Aziza Brahim's new album, Sahari, a young girl poses in ballet shoes and a glistening white tutu. It's a common childhood scene, but it's tipped upside down. She's an exile, living nowhere near her homeland, and behind her stand the tents and buildings of a refugee camp. There's a desert on the ground and a burning sky above. Yet even in this bleakness, she has optimism. She believes in a better future. The music Aziza Brahim makes reflects both the sorrow and the hope of these people. She grew up in one of those camps in the Algerian desert, along with thousands of other Saharawi who were removed from their homes in the Western Sahara. Her grandmother was a famous Saharawi poet, her mother well-known as a vocalist, and they passed their strength and fearlessness to her. Now, as one of North African most lauded singers, Brahim uses her position to make the plight of her people known -- and of the refugees across the world who have no choice but to exist in the camps. Sahari is for them as much as it's for her own family. The political remains intensely personal for Brahim. She lives in exile, in Spain, and the music for Sahari -- her third album for Glitterbeat -- was written there. And while her songs remain grounded in her homeland, her gaze is increasingly global. To achieve that, Brahim worked with the acclaimed Spanish artist Amparo Sánchez of the band Amparanoia on the album's pre-production, and the collaboration has made a transformative impact on the music. The focus is broader, with programming and keyboards a vital part of the new sound. The different approach extends to the very root of Brahim's music, the tabal drum that's been the heart of Saharawi music for centuries. The process was made smoother by having a sympathetic band who've been with her for years. All the members played a part in framing the new material. When Brahim began as a composer, her work reflected her own reality, growing up in the far, rocky desert known as the hamada. These days she's become a voice for refugees across the globe, and what she sees every day on the news has inevitably affected her writing. Perhaps Aziza's empowered, healing music, can help refuel our sense of justice and compassion.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 180 gram vinyl; includes download code. On the front cover of Saharawi singer-songwriter and activist Aziza Brahim's new album, Sahari, a young girl poses in ballet shoes and a glistening white tutu. It's a common childhood scene, but it's tipped upside down. She's an exile, living nowhere near her homeland, and behind her stand the tents and buildings of a refugee camp. There's a desert on the ground and a burning sky above. Yet even in this bleakness, she has optimism. She believes in a better future. The music Aziza Brahim makes reflects both the sorrow and the hope of these people. She grew up in one of those camps in the Algerian desert, along with thousands of other Saharawi who were removed from their homes in the Western Sahara. Her grandmother was a famous Saharawi poet, her mother well-known as a vocalist, and they passed their strength and fearlessness to her. Now, as one of North African most lauded singers, Brahim uses her position to make the plight of her people known -- and of the refugees across the world who have no choice but to exist in the camps. Sahari is for them as much as it's for her own family. The political remains intensely personal for Brahim. She lives in exile, in Spain, and the music for Sahari -- her third album for Glitterbeat -- was written there. And while her songs remain grounded in her homeland, her gaze is increasingly global. To achieve that, Brahim worked with the acclaimed Spanish artist Amparo Sánchez of the band Amparanoia on the album's pre-production, and the collaboration has made a transformative impact on the music. The focus is broader, with programming and keyboards a vital part of the new sound. The different approach extends to the very root of Brahim's music, the tabal drum that's been the heart of Saharawi music for centuries. The process was made smoother by having a sympathetic band who've been with her for years. All the members played a part in framing the new material. When Brahim began as a composer, her work reflected her own reality, growing up in the far, rocky desert known as the hamada. These days she's become a voice for refugees across the globe, and what she sees every day on the news has inevitably affected her writing. Perhaps Aziza's empowered, healing music, can help refuel our sense of justice and compassion.

$15.50 IN STOCK

2016 release. Western Saharan musician and activist Aziza Brahim's second solo album, Abbar el Hamada (Across the Hamada), is a commanding and compassionate musical statement about, and for, the tumultuous age in which we live. Raised in a Saharawi refugee camp in the Algerian desert, and living in exile for more than two decades (first in Cuba and in Barcelona at the time of this release), Brahim's life and music embodies both the tragedies and hopes of the present-day migrant and refugee experience. As walls and borders are again being raised across the world, Aziza Brahim's passionately sung poetic defiance is especially timely and profound. Brahim's previous album, the resplendent Soutak (GB 009CD/LP, 2014), spent an unprecedented three months atop the World Music Charts Europe, and was the chart's top album for 2014. The album was also selected as one of Songlines magazine's "Top Ten" albums of the year and appeared on several other year-end lists. On Abbar el Hamada, Brahim has consciously extended her reach deeper into the sounds of contemporary West Africa. This move has been reinforced by the introduction of Senegalese percussionist Sengane Ngom and drummer Aleix Tobias (who has studied drumming in Gambia and Senegal) into her band, and the return of Malian guitarist Kalilou Sangare from the Soutak sessions. Bassist and arranger Guillem Aguilar and guitarist Ignasi Cussó also return from the previous band. Recorded in Barcelona in the summer of 2015 with Soutak producer Chris Eckman (Bassekou Kouyate, Tamikrest), Abbar el Hamada is a wholly persuasive example of Brahim's panmusical vision and her most compelling and varied album to date. From the pulsing desert rock of "Calles de dajla" and the Afro-Cuban inflections of "La cordillera negra" (evoking '70s recordings by the Super Rail Band) through the dusky elegance of "El canto del la arena" and the raw balladry of "Mani" (featuring Malian bluesmaster Samba Touré on guitar), the music and lyrics on Abbar el Hamada masterfully reflect the restless, imaginative search for home explicit in the album's title. "Hamada" is the word used by the Saharawi people to describe the rocky desert landscape along the Algerian/Western Saharan frontier where tens of thousands of their people are stranded in purgatorial refugee camps. "For me, Abbar el Hamada (Across the Hamada) is a title that synthesizes our destiny as a country over the last 40 years," Brahim explains. "We are suffering an injustice that condemns us to try and survive in an environment as inhospitable as the Hamada." Innovation, naked truth, humility, and political outcry: these are the raw materials of Aziza Brahim's ever-expanding musical vision. On Abbar el Hamada she fuses and fashions these elements into an unforgettable work that is both deeply inspired and deeply inspiring.

$23.50 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code. 2016 release. Western Saharan musician and activist Aziza Brahim's second solo album, Abbar el Hamada (Across the Hamada), is a commanding and compassionate musical statement about, and for, the tumultuous age in which we live. Raised in a Saharawi refugee camp in the Algerian desert, and living in exile for more than two decades (first in Cuba and in Barcelona at the time of this release), Brahim's life and music embodies both the tragedies and hopes of the present-day migrant and refugee experience. As walls and borders are again being raised across the world, Aziza Brahim's passionately sung poetic defiance is especially timely and profound. Brahim's previous album, the resplendent Soutak (GB 009CD/LP, 2014), spent an unprecedented three months atop the World Music Charts Europe, and was the chart's top album for 2014. The album was also selected as one of Songlines magazine's "Top Ten" albums of the year and appeared on several other year-end lists. On Abbar el Hamada, Brahim has consciously extended her reach deeper into the sounds of contemporary West Africa. This move has been reinforced by the introduction of Senegalese percussionist Sengane Ngom and drummer Aleix Tobias (who has studied drumming in Gambia and Senegal) into her band, and the return of Malian guitarist Kalilou Sangare from the Soutak sessions. Bassist and arranger Guillem Aguilar and guitarist Ignasi Cussó also return from the previous band. Recorded in Barcelona in the summer of 2015 with Soutak producer Chris Eckman (Bassekou Kouyate, Tamikrest), Abbar el Hamada is a wholly persuasive example of Brahim's panmusical vision and her most compelling and varied album to date. From the pulsing desert rock of "Calles de dajla" and the Afro-Cuban inflections of "La cordillera negra" (evoking '70s recordings by the Super Rail Band) through the dusky elegance of "El canto del la arena" and the raw balladry of "Mani" (featuring Malian bluesmaster Samba Touré on guitar), the music and lyrics on Abbar el Hamada masterfully reflect the restless, imaginative search for home explicit in the album's title. "Hamada" is the word used by the Saharawi people to describe the rocky desert landscape along the Algerian/Western Saharan frontier where tens of thousands of their people are stranded in purgatorial refugee camps. "For me, Abbar el Hamada (Across the Hamada) is a title that synthesizes our destiny as a country over the last 40 years," Brahim explains. "We are suffering an injustice that condemns us to try and survive in an environment as inhospitable as the Hamada." Innovation, naked truth, humility, and political outcry: these are the raw materials of Aziza Brahim's ever-expanding musical vision. On Abbar el Hamada she fuses and fashions these elements into an unforgettable work that is both deeply inspired and deeply inspiring.

$23.50 IN STOCK

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.

$12.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Midline pricing. 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.