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CD Review
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Dirty Linen, CD Review >>
The Comoros are a group of four tiny islands in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and the east coast of Africa. Their relative isolation and juxtaposition among India, Africa, and the South Pacific has resulted in a unique culture that blends Asian, African, Malagasy, and the Pacific island influences. Nawal, the first prominent musical export of the Comoros, brings all of those influences to her music, as well as a European sensibility introduced from her childhood, when the Comoros were still French colonies, and a youth spent in France. Her music also draws strongly on her Sufi spirituality, which is expressed in the ethereal chants that form the basis of many of her compositions. Nawal accompanies her vocals with either guitar or gambusi, the plucked, three-stringed instrument that has a sound reminiscent of the oud; it originated in Yemen but emerged as one of the most common instruments in the Comoros. She performs with a small group that includes bass and percussion.
Nawal's emergence as a musician is revolutionary in the sense that she is the first Comoran woman to perform in public. She has also foregone the usual route of signing to a world-music label, choosing instead to produce, market, and distribute her recordings on her own. Her first recording, Kweli, was initially released in 2001. Intricate vocal arrangements highlight its blend of danceable rhythmic pieces like "Sana" and "Dania Udjissa" with quieter tunes such as "Mhwana Bahari Mwema" and the unaccompanied "Karibu."
The enhanced CD The Voice of the Comoros includes five pieces recorded by Nawal's fine acoustic trio at the Musée Dapper in Paris, along with video footage of three of the selections that demonstrate the quiet, charistmatic power they project onstage.
Nawal's latest CD, Amam, seems to be geared more overtly toward European and American audiences, incorporating electric guitar on a few tracks and including some passages (notably in "Meditation") in English. Otherwise the sound is very similar to the previous recordings. Although the tone is consistently optimistic, some of the pieces on Amam are more overtly political, notably "Hima" ("Get Up"), a call for the liberation of women; "Leo ni Leo," which commemorates the election of the Comoros president in 2006; and the odes to peace ("Salama" and "Amam") that open and close the disc.
-by Michael Parrish (San Jose, CA) 06/30/08 >> go there
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