Noura Mint Seymali Tzenni Tour - 02.08.14

Unique among the “desert blues” music that is emerging mostly from Mali, Noura Mint Seymali’s band presents a unique interpretation of traditional Mauritanian music. Noura’s success stems from her ability to combine a rare classical mastery and a griot’s cultural authority with musical idioms that speak to the emergent realities of youth culture in West Africa and beyond. Composing for an ensemble with traditional instruments at its core—ardine (harp), tidinit (lute), and t’beul (bowl drum)— and fortified by Western bass and drum-set, Noura employs the instruments and modal structures essential to Moorish tradition while simultaneously delivering ideas within the format of the pop song.

Noura’s husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly, who is the guitarist for the band, is influenced by western musicians such as Dire Straits and Jimi Hendrix, infusing both funk and psychedelic into their music. Noura cites Etta James as an influence and in her singing you can hear multiple influences, reggae, flamenco and rock.

Both Noura and her husband are heirs to a griot lineage stretching back generations. Griot families pass on traditional expertise and have a historical role as musicians and story tellers in many West African countries.  Her father, Seymali Ould Mouhamed Vall, is a highly respected musician and scholar known for being the first person to write musical notation to traditional Mauritanian music. The band has performed at Mali’s famous Fesitval au Desert, Spain’s Pirienos and Noches de Ramadan and in Maroc, Cote D’Ivoires, Congo, Algeria and Senegal and is steadily gaining wider recognition, determined to bring Mauritanian music to the world.