Sahara grooves, Sarajevo sevdah love and The garden of England Top trio in the World Music Charts Europe of May

The World Music Charts Europe are selected each month from the playlists of 45 radio shows between Madrid and Berlin, Athens and London. I do present the new Top trio.
Here we go with Sahara grooves.
Today from 22.00 at MDR KULTUR, on air
 

Tamikrest

You can see the endless sand dunes of the Sahara in front of your eyes. Powerful and yet meditative sound the songs of Tamikrest. The new album was recorded in a beautiful vintage sound and the message is already contained in the title, explains singer, guitarist and songwriter Ousmane Ag Mossa. "Tamotaït means hope for positive change."  By this the musician from the nomadic Kel Tamasheq people means hope the possibility to live in his own homeland - „Azawad“.
Often the pieces of Tamikrest start with a single guitar riff, then the melody slowly builds up. in the voices anger and sadness resonate, because this music was almost completely forged in exile, some songs also during a longer stay on a Japanese island. Due to regional conflicts in northern Mali, the founding members of Tamikrest have not lived in Kidal, on the edge of the Sahara, for years. The band commutes between Algeria, Paris and their numerous concert venues. They met the Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra and spontaneously recorded "Timtarin". Tamotaït became Tamikrest's most emotional album to date, including floating guitars and combative lyrics. 3rd place for it in the World Music Charts Europe of May.

album Tamotait
artist Tamikrest
label Glitterbeat

Damir Imamović.

Music as a weapon of hope and songs as vessels of individual memory. This also applies to the singer Damir Imamović. The Bosnian comes from a dynasty of musicians in Sarajevo. His grandfather was one of the first Sevdah interpreters on Yugoslavian radio after the Second World War. His grandson builds on a minimalist sound and a Bosnian-Turkish-American band. His album „Singer of Tales'“ builds bridges to the Bosnian diaspora and to Spain, because Sarajevo once had a flourishing Sephardic Jewish culture. Pearls of traditional Sevdah culture stand next to brand new songs. This recording sounds as immediate as if you were sitting only a few centimetres next to the musicians. The Bosnian has chosen his songs with Andrea Goertler and Joe Boyd (yes Pink Floyd and Nick Drake producer), who crafted this album with a sensitive hand. You can understand "Adio Kerida" as a love song for a person or for a lost country, says the Bosnian with a view to the many refugees in his own homeland. The Sephardic Jews of Sarajevo have added a verse to this song, which Damir Imamovic now sings for the first time. "Singer of Tales" climbed to number 2 in the World Music Charts Europe.

album Singer of Tales
artist Damir Imamovic
label Wrasse

Sitting under the mulberry tree?
See how she does mourn for her true love
As I shall mourn for thee, my love,
As I shall mourn for thee.

Sam Lee

Sam Lee's album begins like this song, acapella and minimalistic. But his recordings evolve into an opulent and surprising reinvention of English and Scottish traditionals. His teacher Stanley Robertson, a Scottish traveller, is responsible for much of his song collection, but Sam Lee packs the old ballads into idiosyncratic arrangements. For his third album Sam Lee has brought Bernard Butler from the English Britpop band Suede on board as producer and guitarist. True to his motto: New Folk, Old Folk, No Folk, with which he also titled his legendary Nest Collective concert series. Sam Lee organizes concerts in warehouses, churches, cocktail bars and in the middle of the forest. Because Sam Lee has an almost childlike joy when different cultures, ways of playing and opinions collide. This singer loves sensual moments, which he himself creates a lot on "Old Wow". His album rightly defends the top position in the World Music Charts Europe in May.

album Old Wow
artist Sam Lee
label Cooking Vinyl



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