Album Review: Bab L’Bluz - Nayda! (2020)

Craig Stephen takes a Real World trip and traverses a few continents for us:

Nayda! has been crafted by a trans-metropolitan act which mines the sounds of the Maghreb while holding the other ear to the west, in other words a magical mish-mash of influences and cultures.

The title refers to the transition from autocracy to a more liberal society at the turn of the century. It is a youth movement incorporating rappers, rockers, and jazzers and expanding to the nation’s minorities, such as the Berbers and the Gnawa. And while nayda can mean to party, it is also a reference to an intellectual awakening.

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Yousra Mansour is steeped in the Gnawa tradition, but grew up listening to Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson. The band’s name means "gateway to the blues”, but the reference is to African blues rather than its more modern American version. Mansour’s role in the band is in a way pioneering as Gnawa music is traditionally a male-dominated domain.

Bab L’Bluz is made by Brice Bottin (guitar, guembri and percussions), Jérôme Bartolome (percussion, flute), and percussionist Hafid Zouaoui who met up at a music festival in Marrakesh. Mansour also plays guembri, awisha and percussion on the album. While the music and songs come from Morocco (and nearby Mauritania), the recording took place in Lyon, southern France.

As mentioned, Nayda! the album (which has been released by Real World) has an ear to the west and early rock, but to the untrained ear it is a beguiling listen: the vocal range and the unusual instruments – such as the guembri and the awisha – combine to riveting yet confusing effect.

An introduction to Nayda! is made simpler by a brief introduction to the songs and a translation of the Arabic lyrics into English in the booklet that accompanies it. ‘Ila Mata’ was inspired by the Tunisian poet Anis Shoshan, and is a call to search for what can unite us instead of going towards everything that divides us. “Until when will ignorance rule?/ How will the injustice last? Until when are we forced to remain silent?/ Until when will violence will be glorified,” asks Mansour pertinently.

‘Africa Manayo’ laments the centuries-old plundering of the continent’s resources by the West, leading to exploited workers, a depleted soil, and mass poverty. “They’re watching our children dying/ While our tears are watering the floor.” Contrarily, ‘El Watane’ celebrates the richness of Africa while holding out hope that poverty and slavery might be eradicated.

There are also a number of songs that focus on love, life and African people, such as ‘Yemma’, a tribute to all mothers, and the love song ‘Oudelali’.

There’s a solid ground of influences on here, and no more so than on songs such as the anti-corruption anthem ‘Gwana Beat’ (“Who tells the story of the citizens’ pain/ And the story of the crooks who destroyed this country?”), which is the kind of song Robert Plant has been striving to write for decades. Or there’s ‘El Gamra’, played at full-throttle throughout which is deceptive as it’s a song about the moon and is a festive song praising her restorative powers.

(Oi! … you can’t say that about Robert Plant - Hippy Ed)