SOUNDTRACK: MDOU MOCTAR-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #213 (May 24, 2021).
Mdou Moctar has been getting some well deserved recognition lately. It’s pretty great to see a Nigerian performer, who plays distinctly Nigerian style music making an impression on American audiences.
Of course, since I’m contrary, I’m more attracted to Moctar’s drummer who is playing a calabash–in this case red object that looks like a turtle shell and makes a remarkable range of sounds. But really the focus should be on Moctar’s guitar playing.
Get ready for some fiery desert guitar-shredding, Saharan style, with the music of Mdou Moctar. Producer and American bassist Mikey Coltun told me that “the concert was filmed outside of the house we were all staying at in Niamey, Niger, in November/December 2020.” He continued, “As with any sort of musical happenings in the region, once some music is blasted, that’s an invitation for anyone to come join, sing, clap, dance, and just come together as a community. We wanted to present the Tiny Desk exactly like this, from when we started playing to finally the energy growing with fans crowded around filming on their cell phones and passing around Tuareg tea.”
And so, the four musicians, seated on a blanket (designed with oversized roses) with amps on either side, start playing with no fanfare.
The (home) concert starts off with Mahamadou Souleymane, a.k.a. Mdou Moctar, playing a melodic line on acoustic guitar, with Ahmoudou Madassane on rhythm guitar, Souleymane Ibrahim playing percussion on a calabash, and Mikey Coulton on his Fender Mustang bass on the song “Ya Habibti” from the album Afrique Victime. It’s an album of songs dealing with intense subjects close to Mdou Moctar’s heart: colonialism, exploitation, inequality, but also love.
The song almost feels like a drone because the bass and rhythm pretty much never change throughout. The drumming is muted–effective but never sharp. And Moctar’s voice and lead guitar work is subtle. I’m sure since I don’t understand what he’s singing (which sounds pretty intense), I find his voice very soothing.
“Tala Tannam” follows in the same pattern–except the bass is even less mobile and the way Moctar sings it feels like a lullaby. The best part is watching Ibrahim and Coltun clearly enjoying themselves–smiling to each other and even hugging at one point. It’s hard to know how long these songs are as they seems to just go until they stop, but this one does have a deliberate ending. It’s when he puts down his acoustic and grabs the electric guitar.
You can hear the real musical fire on the last song, the roughly 7-minute psych-rock title track to Afrique Victime. “Africa is a victim of so many crimes,” Mdou Moctar sings in French. “If we stay silent, it will be the end of us.” Silence is not something in Mdou Moctar’s vocabulary.
Moctar’s soloing was subtle on the other songs, but you can really here it standing out with this sharp electric guitar sound. It’s nice to watch his fingers fly around the neck. There’s some guitar god moments in the soloing–including some finger tapping–but having him seated and equal with everyone else, the solos never seem showoffy. I also like the way the song speeds up incrementally as it goes–mostly notable by how fast Ibrahim is suddenly hitting the calabash.
[READ: June 10, 2021] Losing the Girl
This final book of the trilogy was a little disappointing for me.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but I feel like there wasn’t enough resolution for anyone.
The book opens on Nigel. Claudia has shown up to tutor him in math. He is so smitten he writes a poem that he submits for class. He calls it “Teacher” and his teacher assumes it is about her. I can’t even believe that he would submit a poem with the line “teach me how to make puppy love turn into doggy style” (Nigel is so clueless).
Next we see Brett at his mother’s funeral. Johanna tries to comfort him but he blows her off demanding to know why she didn’t tell him about her and Paula. They smooth things over and she asks if his father knows that his mother died. He says no, he hasn’t talked to his father in a long time. Jo says her mother might know how to get in touch with him.
The next section is about Darren. He is by himself remembering how his father hurt his mother and how he doesn’t want to repeat the cycle. (more…)
