Edition 34: Spring 2006
Amadou and Mariam, Emmanuel Jal and Souad Massi, UK tour, February 2006
Every concert-going African music fan knows that if you turn up early, you’ll have the venue almost to yourself. Some people may saunter in during the first act, but most make a point of propping up the bar until moments before the headliners hit the stage. The African Soul Rebels tour was different. Here were three acts, each dynamic enough to hold our attention from the first note.
The opener was Souad Massi, the Algerian songstress who was recently voted Middle East and North African musician of the year in the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards for 2006. Her look may have been scruffy and understated ‐ more shy schoolgirl than international star ‐ but there’s a commanding presence to her musky, smoky alto voice, especially at full throttle. She entranced the Brighton crowd so completely that when she tried a singalong ‐ a little optimistically, you might think, as her songs are all in Arabic ‐ we gamely gave it our best.
Next up was Emmanuel Jal, a scrawny bundle of charisma so electric he could light up a city, let alone a concert hall. Jal’s story is now well known ‐ born in southern Sudan, as a child he was forced to fight in the civil war.
“I believe I’ve survived for a reason ‐ to tell my story, to touch lives”, he rapped, and you could feel a bolt of empathy flash around the audience. But Jal wasn’t out to dwell on the past: beaming out positive vibes, he and his superb backing singer, soul diva Ayak Thiik, just wanted us to dance ‐ and we shook the floor.
When Amadou and Mariam took over, all they had to do was murmur “Are you ready? Lezz go…” and let rip. The blind duo are one of Mali’s hottest exports ‐ they’ve scooped African act of the year and best album in the World Music Awards ‐ and they tore through some of their best numbers with supreme confidence. Every so often, something stilted crept into their delivery, but whenever Amadou got stuck into one of his trademark guitar solos the energy on stage flew off the scale. A rich and spicy triple bill indeed. |
