#north african music
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335: Areski and Fontaine // L'Incendie
L'Incendie
Areski and Fontaine
1973, BYG
The late ‘60s and early ‘70s were when the past half-century of avant-garde developments in theatre, literature, film, and art music began to break through into pop. The results of these early flirtations have a sense of discovery and possibility that has continued to captivate generations of new listeners to this day. Brigitte Fontaine and Areski Belkacem’s L’Incendie should absolutely be considered one of the towering classics of the era (and, among the Francophonie, it probably is), but I only came across it for the first time early last year. It reminds me of something from the Velvet Underground / John Cale / Nico universe, simultaneously emblematic of its time and so ahead of it as to sound anachronistic.
On “Les murailles,” tape of Fontaine’s exhalations and what sounds like a kalimba are snipped up and looped to create a tinkling, twitching soundscape that presages the Books or Boards of Canada; the track that follows, “L’engourdie,” layers howling wah-drenched electric guitar behind a pretty acoustic folk pop number that would fit right in on a Brigitte Bardot record; next, the stark “Nous avons tant parlé” could be a theatrical elegy set in a dilapidated seaside church. Every song feels stylistically distinct, but Areski and Fontaine’s creative vision remains consistent; I hear post-punk and Björk and Sonic Youth, and I hear French early music and Berber folk and the ‘50s sound poetry of Henri Chopin in the same measure.
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It’s always a challenge reviewing non-English language records because you’re stuck speaking to its purely sonic characteristics, which increases the likelihood you’ll hilariously misread it—call a song a soothing folk idyll when it’s actually about smashing international Jewry or something. With political, lyric-forward stuff like L’Incendie, it also means failing to engage with its message, flattening it as an artwork. (Unfortunately, there is nothing I as a person of French ancestry living in a majority-French city could do or could have done in the past to better interpret this record.) I asked French-language correspondent and girlfriend of the podcast Mea for one of her classic vibe checks, but she told me the reams of notes she took while listening were too dotty to share, so I can only assume hearing and understanding Fontaine’s words in their original tongue unchains some celestial horror.
Few of the lyrics can be easily found online, which forces me to rely on Le Gendre’s analysis, but critic Kevin Le Gendre’s helpful liner notes paint a portrait of a wide-ranging album that engages with recent post-colonialist bloodshed (Jordan’s Black September civil war with PLO forces on “Le 6 septembre”); the medicalization of psychic distress (“Ragilia”); intimacy and coupledom; and much more besides. What I was able to find of Fontaine’s lyrics online have a spiky surrealist poetry to them. From “Après la guerre” (“After the War”):
“Happiness blows
The eyelids lie gently
The sexes glow
The eyes, by moving, make you cum
The men returned from the war
And on their heads, the grass grows back.”
335/365
#brigitte fontaine#areski belkacem#areski#avant garde#french music#berber music#berber#north african music#experimental folk#avant folk#'70s music#music review#vinyl record
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Souad Massi's latest album 🥰🥰🥰
#souad massi#berber stuff#music#north african music#french music#sequana#sequana album#souad massi sequana
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Eyadou Ag Leche of Tinariwen, Coachella Music Festival, 2009.
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the playlist that’s saving my life this finals season
#orthography & polytheism paper is officially done . we go forward#featuring North African house music and polish traditional folk . and so much other shit. As promised
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Black heritage of Tunisia: Stambeli
A Stambeli is a performer who on the persona of a “ Bousaadia ” , wearing a mask and dancing with the rhythms of music . Bousaadia is associated with trance and possession , and is considered a powerful figure capable of healing and spiritual experiences.
Also known as “ Diwan ” in Algeria and “ Gnawa ” in Morocco.
Story and copyright: Ammar 808
#tunisia#music#north africa#africa#berber#arab#maghreb#amazigh#tunisian#black heritage#art#morocco#algeria#african heritage
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Music was much easier to play when I was 8. Should go back to playing xylophone it was easier than guitar. (My dyslexic brain has a really hard time with tabs)
#i'm not stopping guitar don't get it twisted#i just think that xylophone is the easiest instrument to learn because like piano the notes are already here#but unlike piano and guitar you don't have to stretch (which isn't an issue for me i'm hypermobile but it is for most people)#and unlike drums it's small enough to not be intimidating#anyway it's a good first instrument especially for kid#it develops their musical ear#their sence of rhythm#and teaches them basic music theory#without being hard on their body in any way#also weirdly me and my mum own a lot of percussions for people who lovestring instruments xD#it's because the musical scene around us was mostly North african percussion groups#but it's funny to think about
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I 🖤 Real Hiphop 🎼💯
Happy 50th 🎂🎼Hiphop
#hip hop music#50 years old#soundcloud#billboard#vh1#Hard-core 70_80_90_200.#def jam#bad boy records#Ruthless_Record deathrowrecords#bet#hollywood#v mm#vintage#photography#black and white#east coast#west coast#north coast#south coast#african music#rap music#music video#spotify#apple music#youtube
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It's ridiculously and infuriatingly difficult to find some casual history material on the Moors because all anyone cares about is classifying whether or not they were Black... Shut up! I want to know about the arts and the science and the clothing and the crafts and the poetry and the battles and the culture! I don't want to do race science!
#Good Lord.#Oh if I want to learn about any European population's history I'll have no issue.#But fuck me for wanting to know about North Africans. That one's only allowed with generic orientalist music#And the stupid 'but who really were the mysterious Moors and most importantly were they Black or not???'#I for one would like to talk about anything but retroactively applying racial labels that did not exist yet onto historical people.#There is so much more to be learned here but that's all we can ever talk about when it comes to non-white history.#Especially because if you REALLY REALLY REALLY care about trying to classify the Moors...#The fucking answer is some of them in the modern world would be Black and some would not. They weren't a homogenous group.#Can we move on to the vast breadth of culture and influence that is being glossed over constantly now?#I do think it's good to acknowledge many/most Moors would now be considered Black but is that all? Is that all? Really?#It's so diminishing. The obsession in and of itself is antiblack...#The only other groups who anyone cares this much about racially classifying are like. Vikings or whatever and it's always to be racist.#It's always to classify disparate peoples who saw each other as completely different as definitely 100% white. We know why..
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youtube
#dj set#Nooriyah#HYPHN series#Middle Eastern and North African sounds#jazz#live music#mixing#middle east#home video#Youtube
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Remembering Inez Foxx 🌹🕊on her Birthday 🎂
#Inez foxx#singer#rnb music#soul music#band#Charlie foxx#greensboro#north carolina#african american#Virgo#1950s#1960s
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Awards Season 2022-23: Awards Round-Up 1/20
Trying his best to be a good dad – and to get some nominations along the way.
This is the last of these I’ll do before the Oscar nominations; I’m not sure how many groups are even left to announce, besides Kansas City (figures my city would be the last to go). Got 11 groups (my special number!) today:
African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA)
Critics’ Choice Awards (CCA)
Denver Film…
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#2022 Films#2022 in Film#African-American Film Critics Association#Awards Season 2022-23#Critics&039; Choice Awards#Denver Film Critics Society#Film Awards#Georgia Film Critics Association#Hawaii Film Critics Society#Iowa Film Critics Association#Music City Film Critics Association#North Dakota Film Society#San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle#Seattle Film Critics Society#Toronto Film Critics Association
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Oum Kolthoum with Amazigh women in Morocco.
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Truly underappreciated library resource: Kanopy!
It's a movie-and-tv streaming service that many libraries offer. If your library supports it, you can get a free account with your library card!
It works similarly to Hoopla, with monthly checkout limits, but the amount of movies and tv they have is astounding. They focus on indie movies and documentaries, but they have an impressive variety. A few days ago, some friends and I watched an experimental Afrofuturist queer surreal-cyberpunk musical movie just to try it, and it was a strange and fascinating experience that I wouldn't have gotten anywhere else. (Neptune Frost, by the way. It's interesting!)
Kanopy has animated movies like the French/North African The Rabbi's Cat (Le chat du rabbin), popular indies like The Secret of Kells, up to well-known ones like ParaNorman. It has popular quirky successes like Everything Everywhere All at Once, But I'm a Cheerleader, and Lady Bird, award-winning dramas like Moonlight, classic movies like The Graduate, Dial M for Murder, Roman Holiday, Rashomon, and Seven Samurai. It's got Charlie Chaplin. It's got some classic musicals, like Oklahoma! and Guys and Dolls. It's got classic horror like Suspiria, Nosferatu, and Night of the Living Dead, and a plethora of modern horror as well. It has cheesy old-timey sci-fi from the 50s and 60s, genuinely good classic sci-fi like The Boys from Brazil, cult classics like Donnie Darko, modern feel-good quirky sci-fi like Jules, and just, a WHOLE lot of super interesting creative modern indie sci-fi to browse. It has documentaries. It has quite a lot of PBS and BBC series. It has anime. It has all of Farscape for some reason. It has a really impressive collection of LGBTQ+ film from around the world.
See if your library offers Kanopy, and browse the genres you like - you are sure to find something fascinating that you had never heard of before!
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Language Playlists
Disclaimer: These playlists predominantly reflect my taste in and knowledge of music. I apologise in advance. Some playlists include songs in other languages including English if deemed appropriate for the playlist. All playlists are works in progress. Playlists in bold are really long.
Multilingual and Continental Playlists
African Music (this used to be a South African playlist and then just mutated)
Foreign Covers
Germanic Music (excluding German and Low German)
Middle Eastern and North African Music
Multilingual Mixtape (contains most of the playlists in this post and a lot more)
North American Music (classic and contemporary indigenous artists)
South Asian Music (mostly but not exclusively Hindi film soundtracks ngl)
Single Language Playlists
Cambodian
Catalan
Chinese
Czech
Finnish
French
Galician
German
Greek
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hungarian
Irish (Gaeilge)
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Low German and Northern German
te reo Māori
Portuguese
Scottish (Gaelic)
Spanish
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese
Welsh
Yiddish
Hidden Agenda: Please recommend me music in Romanian and Croatian 🥺 (I also accept other recommendations)
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Last Seen Blogs
queencest
Ollie & his Speedy
meigeni-s-blog
sanctuary;
fag-on-goth-action
If You Close The Door...
nerdyladypeace
Untitled
red-mate-blue-state
Red-Mate-Blue-State