Souad Massi - Mesk Elil
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CD Details
Artist: Souad MassiEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-11-15
Music Label: Wrasse Records
Soundtracks:
- Mesk Elil
- Kilyoum
- Ilham
- Khalouni
- Denia Wezmen
- Tell Me Why
- Miwawa
- Dar Djedi
- Malou
- Hagda
Music reviews of Mesk Elil
Music Review: Algeria, Algeria
Rating: 5 Stars
The full spectrum of Souad Massi's talent is not immediately apparent from a first or second listening to this, her third and most musically evolved album. It takes time for some listeners to understand what the fuss is about. Looking up videos of Souad singing "Raoui" and other success on YouTube is an excellent way of getting more in touch with this wonderfully innocent artist, capable of mesmerising a huge audience, alone with her guitar on an empty stage.
Her training lay in Algerian folk music and she can sound awkward and flat when singing Western melodies, a feature which has its own charm. In this album she adds voices, instruments, more sophisticated arrangements, but the overall result is still authentically North African.
Like other Algerian artists, she is aiming at a place which may not exist, where commercial success with Western buyers coexists with Maghreb roots.
Her own melodies are repetitive, catchy, hypnotic, lilting. The voice is deep, pure and naked. Algeria has produced some of the most exciting young performers of the last decade, many of whom (like Souad herself) have had to leave their homeland to escape assassination by offended fundamentalists. This tragic element is evident in the melancholy that runs through the music of Souad Massi, Rachid Taha, Abdelli and so many other Algerian expatriates (even Cheb Mami). Her fascinating chops all spiral downwards.
If this sounds like something that belongs in your collection, don't hesitate to buy this album -- despite some shortcomings, it is overwhelmingly beautiful.
Description of Mesk Elil
Souad Massi's melodies-at once exotic and familiar-are influenced by shaabi music, French chanson, flamenco, 1960s American folk, and a variety of African musical traditions. Accessible and engaging, her delicate guitar playing is the perfect accompaniment to her beautiful lyric. "Mesk Elil" the highly anticipated 3rd album follows on from 2004's "Deb".For her third album, which was a strong presence on the European world music charts throughout late 2005, the Algerian-born, Paris-based singer-songwriter has chosen to operate on a much larger scale. Mauritanian vocalist Daby Touré (a star in the making if there ever was one), Pascal Danaë, a French-born musician of Caribbean ancestry and the versatile Mino Cinelu on percussion are only a few of the capable artists appearing on the recording. The tunes are a mixed bag, jazzy, sophisticated yet for the most part true to their sources; clearly Massi is trying her wings as a composer. Ilhem ("Inspiration") a percussive gem fronted by chiming plucked strings, is infectiously extroverted and packs a strong West African/Touareg flavor, while Khalouni ("Let Me"), a North African-Iberian confection sung with a wonderful male singer named Rabah Kaifa, gets the blood moving. But the title track, with its limp Brazilian-inspired melody and MOR-like string arrangements, is less effective. Ultimately, although Massi's former one-on-one, almost perilously intimate rapport with the listener seems somewhat refracted these days, her message is as timely as ever. Her sensuous alto voice remains swooningly flexible yet serenely unadulterated, a miracle of confident, sensitive femininity. --Christina Roden
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