(2021) Khaira Arby - Live in New York 2010
Review:
The death of Khaira Arby in the summer of 2018 saw the loss of one of the music world’s great talents and one of Mali’s most influential women. She was born in the Abaradjou neighbourhood of Timbuktu, Mali, in 1959, to a Berabiche father and a Tamachek mother, neither of whom were musical. Despite being born in a country where most musicians are born into griot families her precocious talent was recognised early, and Khaira started to perform in 1970 when she was only eleven years old. Much sought after by regional orchestras, in 1972 she was recruited by the ‘Orchestre de Tombouctou’, and in 1974, Khaira was awarded the third prize for best vocal soloist in the final round of the biennale, the national music festival/competition featuring he best traditional and modern ensembles from throughout Mali. This first stage of her musical career was halted, however, in 1976, by her father, who not only forbade her from performing but also arranged her marriage to ensure the cessation of her musical pursuits. She obeyed, but the lure of music proved too strong. Seven years later, after her divorce in 1983, her interest was rekindled, and she is reported to have told journalists that the reason that her marriage broke up was that she loved singing too much. By the late 1980s, she was in Bamako and a member of the legendary National Badema orchestra. 1990 saw a milestone as she became the first female in Northern Mali to appear under her own name with the release of a solo cassette, Moulaye. Further cassette releases, plus invaluable support from the legendary, late Ali Farka Touré, a cousin by marriage, helped confirm both her popularity and fame within Mali. By 2001 she was beginning to be recognised outside of Mali, thanks in no small part to her performances at the Festival au Desert. In 2006 Khaira was named a Chevalier de I’Ordre National du Mali and in 2011 she was awarded the Tamani d’Or by her peers in recognition of her status as one of the great Malian voices. 2010 saw Khaira and her band begin to tour widely outside of her homeland, with visits to Europe, Canada, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. This album, Live in New York 2010 was recorded at Khaira’s first performance in North America, which took place at Bard College, New York, in August of that year. Immensely proud of her mixed-race heritage, she was a tireless and passionate advocate for peace and unity, writing and singing in the indigenous languages of the region, including her first language Sonrhai (Songhai), Arabic, Bambara, Fulani, Tamachek, even French. Her subject matter was often uncompromising, yes she sings about love, marriage and peace, about the ordinary lives and people from Northern Mali, but she fearlessly addresses the rights of women, rails against female genital mutilation whilst advocating autonomy and democracy. The album is a remarkable one in many ways, not least in the fact that it so demonstrably illustrates that she had an innate capacity to blend cultures whilst still preserving her Malian roots. With the majority of the tracks taken from her Timbuktu Tarab release, the music defies simple pigeon-holing. Yes, there is an underlying desert blues feel and whilst her band draws on and mixes rhythms from various Malian regions and traditions, these are then intriguingly fused with electric blues, funk, psychedelia and reggae. Indeed her band on this recording is very much of a rock format, lead, rhythm and bass guitars and percussion, with the addition of a musician contributing traditional tehardent and ngoni. Factor in two backing singers of extraordinary talent and the result is an electrifying set. From the opening notes of Ya Rassoul, the title track of her acclaimed 2008 release, it is clear that passion, energy and emotion transcend language barriers within a musical context. Over an insistent bass-line and intricate rhythms, the interplay between Arby’s strident vocals and Dramane Toure’s lead guitar is most effective. Call and response techniques and rhythms feature strongly on the album, as is immediately apparent with both Sourgou, with its vocal ululations typical of the region, and Gourmou which both see Arby’s emotive, commanding vocals in counterpoint to a sound awash with guitars and percussion. Delya opens with traditional string instrumentation before pulsating ululations occur once again as the song develops and introduces complex guitar solos and effects that could grace a Zappa or Fripp album. As outlined above, praise, social and spiritual concerns are addressed in her lyrics, and with Salou, a song in which she praises Allah, with its ethereal, upbeat reggae-ish guitar, it is impossible not to accede to her request to the audience for “everybody, dance please” There is no letting up of the frenetic pace. Youba, begins as a thoroughly western-sounding rock piece, with its corruscating electric guitar and pounding drums before the vocals bring us back to West Africa in a song that highlights the conditions of the workers in the salt mines. Throughout the recording, the music and the dexterity of those playing the instruments is exemplary and the impression given is that timing is crucial, the multiple-layering, the ‘meandering’ of the solos and the general ebb-and-flow is expertly controlled in order that Khaira’s voice is always to the fore. Thus, with Ferene, with its Grateful Dead-like noodlings and audience participation, with those present enthusiastically singing along with responsive chants, and the wonderful Haidara Moulaye with the guitar echoing and repeating her vocals note for note in a form of call-and-response, Arby’s voice sits fully centre-stage, as it does in Laurou, truly an example of vocal gymnastics at their very best. It has to be admitted that the stridency of her raw, powerful vocals might not be to everyone’s taste, however, there is no escaping the fact that despite the force of the complex, polyrhythmic music being played, Khaira’s voice rings strong through it all, confirming that she is indeed, “The Nightingale of the North” The duration of the songs, the shortest of which clocks in at 6 minutes 5 seconds, may seem overlong to some, whilst for others, the polyrhythms and complex melange of sounds will be nothing short of entrancing, and by the time we come to the final track, Aicha, it is clear that her excitement and pride in her work has been fully revealed. Khaira’s death leaves this album as one of her only full concert recordings, but as a legacy, it is a more than fitting testament to a remarkable talent. Quoted as saying “Malian audiences find me in all their music. My style has many Malian musical influences.”, she would hopefully be delighted that other non-Malian folk also found her and her music.
Tracklist:
01 - Ya Rassoul (Live in 2010)
02 - Sourgou (Live in 2010)
03 - Gourmou (Live in 2010)
04 - Delya (Live in 2010)
05 - Salou (Live in 2010)
06 - Youba (Live in 2010)
07 - Ferene (Live in 2010)
08 - Haidara Moulaye (Live in 2010)
09 - Laurou (Live in 2010)
10 - Aicha (Live in 2010)
Media Report:
Genre: live, world
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
