Finally wrapped up an album that has been in production for over three years - which is not saying much, considering that the music had been sitting, locked away for over four decades. I first encountered the L'Orchestre National on Youtube, via a badly degraded pinkish hued clip of a…
Recording from a Sunday wedding in Nouakchott, Mauritania: Premiere Wedding, Nouakchott
A little gift, a Mauritanian remix, inspired from the archives of an old media studio in Mauritania, and a bored afternoon: public service announcement / boards of canada mashup
The hodou, the traditional Pulaar guitar, is often used to tell a story. And perhaps one of the best known modern storytellers in Mauritania was musician Saïdou Ba: Saïdou Ba - Sayglare "Born in 1939 in Daou (in the commune of Maghama) to a circle of artists attached to the…
Ahmed Vall operates a small record store in Nouakchott, Mauritania. It's called the "Saphire D'Or", but there's no sign, and the name isn't displayed anywhere -- save the records themselves, a faded stamp amidst the mold eaten, dusty stacks. A pair of double metal doors exit the blinding, exhaust choked…
Yonta Hande - Njellu I take a taxi to "Seizieme" -- the sixth district. Nouakchott is divided up into neighborhoods, and this is one of the earlier nomenclatures before things got weird. The new suburbs have names like Basra and Falluja, inspired by the affinity for Arabic satellite TV channels.…