01. Bidayett Lehjibb (00:57)
02. Lehjibb (03:29)
03. Guéreh (04:06)
04. Wezeun (Lebteït) (01:07)
05. Knou (03:32)
06. Moughadim Karr (02:02)
07. Jraad (02:25)
08. Radatt Lebiyaad (00:33)
09. Tassirit (03:00)
10. El Vaïz (Seni Karr) (02:31)
11. Ch’tib (Naha) (04:57)
12. Wezeun (Vaghou) (02:19)
13. Hagala Geyeul (03:13)
14. Wezeun (Likhal Karr) (00:31)
15. Lebleida (03:48)

 

“Seymali has forged a desert blues that is built for an urban environment – harsh, noisy and hard-hitting… her lyrics may have grown out of the rich poetry tradition of Moorish culture but the rhythms are designed for dancing.” — Mojo

Noura Mint Seymali’s 3rd album Yenbett (her first since 2016) is a stunning explosion of contemporary Mauritanian griot music, and once again confirms her status as one of the world’s most potent voices.

Co-produced by Matthew Tinari (Noura’s drummer) and Mikey Coltun (Mdou Moctar) the new album’s approach is both raw and experimental; capturing the band’s powerful in situ performances with taught clarity and adventuresome sonics.

Reflecting her influence, and the acclaim that she’s accumulated throughout her career, Seymali was recently honoured with the 2025 WOMEX Artist of the Year Award.

A voice, timeless as the desert, swirls up like the sirocco, drenched in cavernous reverberation, accompanied by the solitary, meditative swells of the ardine, an acoustic harp that dials in the fundamental frequency of Noura Mint Seymali’s music. A brief pause, and the same refrain returns, this time picked out on a heavily flanged electric guitar, grounded by thunderous drums and growling electric bass. And there’s that voice again – direct and urgent, careening off into wild ululations and refracted echo.

That’s the opening two tracks on Yenbett, the brand-new album by Mauritanian force of nature, Noura Mint Seymali. In just under four and a half minutes, these two versions of the song “Lehjibb” set the tone for what’s to come – a trance-inducing and ferociously evocative blend of ancient Northwest African musical tradition and searing, electrified Saharan future rock.

Noura Mint Seymali is a living embodiment of musical tradition. She hails from a family of musical visionaries: her father, Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall, was a renowned composer and scholar and her stepmother, Dimi Mint Abba, was a cherished singer and performer.

Seymali is a practising griot – equal parts poet, singer, musician, historian and cultural custodian – and a living embodiment of Mauritania’s tradition of Moorish griot music.

“The griot are highly respected lineages in our culture and are a source of social cohesion and social history that endures,” Seymali explains. “We are still a kind of mirror for society, reflecting back the social bonds and history to the people. It’s still the griot who are the artist celebrants of traditional weddings and ceremonies. And it’s still griot representing the culture as artist ambassadors.”

In this role, Seymali performs as a powerful vocalist with both a deep connection to the griot’s timeless repertoire, and an urge to create fresh, contemporary messages.

“I have songs about a wide range of topics: love songs, praise songs, songs for dancing, narrative songs. In our tradition, poetry from different sources can be stitched together in a performance. I start with a core of my own, there are lines that I write, others I quote or reference in the way a jazz musician might riff on another song in the tradition, but the composite is always a new creation and the cleverness with which a singer can synthesize poetry in a kind of musical mosaic is indeed a part of the artform.”

At the same time, she is also a virtuoso player of the ardine – a harp-like instrument, similar to the kora, that is found only in Mauritania.

“It’s unique to our culture and has a special place in my heart. It is played only by women. My grandmother, Mounina, first taught me to play. She was known for her singing and ardine playing and at one time was even pictured on the Mauritanian currency playing the ardine. I started playing as a child, taking lessons from her whenever I could. The sound and melodies it produces for me are so evocative of the desert and my homeland.”

Not content with mastering these traditional artforms, Seymali has also built a reputation as a fearless innovator, pushing the Moorish musical tradition into bold new areas.

On albums like 2014’s Tzenni and 2016’s Arbina, Seymali pioneered a modern, electrified version of the music with a rock sensibility. Now, with Yenbett, that sound is nailed down tighter than ever.

At the heart of it is the sinuous electric guitar playing of Seymali’s husband, Mauritanian axe-hero Jeich Ould Chighaly.

“My husband Jeich is the true rocker of the house,” laughs Seymali. “Sure, we heard Western rock music growing up to some extent and were exposed to it then and now. But also it’s important to note that Mauritanian guitar just rocks, entirely in its own right. It’s intrinsically connected.”
Rounding out the band are bassist Ousmane Touré, and on drums Matthew Tinari – an American who has resided in Senegal for many years. Tinari also co-produced the album, together with Mikey Coltun, best known as bassist with Tuareg rock pioneers Mdou Moctar.

It’s no surprise, then, that Yenbett smoulders with a languid fire comparable to the desert blues played by West African groups such as Mdou Moctar. Certainly, Seymali can see a connection between the blues and West African music. “It’s sewn from the same cloth,” she says.

Yenbett just might be the most vital and seductive articulation of desert psych so far.

Inspired by Seymali’s raw ardine and mesmerising vocals, Jeich’s spindly improvisations wander into far corners of the imagination, while the muscular rhythm section ranges from stumbling, Magic Band weirdness to heavy funk adventurism. Add in ecstatic vocal exhortations, timeless call and response choruses and rousing percussive handclaps and you’ve got an album that beguiles with a singular combination of the otherworldly and the thrillingly present. As each track on the record is woven together with experimental, associative one-minute interludes, a cohesive whole comes into focus, a desert mirage made manifest by Noura Mint Seymali’s singular sound.

It’s music with deep history, pointing towards the future. It’s an eternal African sound, made for now.

01. Arbina
02. Mohammedoun
03. Na Sane
04. Suedi Koum
05. Richa
06. Ghlana
07. Ghizlane
08. Ya Demb
09. Soub Hanak
10. Tia

 

Noura Mint Seymali hails from a Moorish musical dynasty in Mauritania, born into a prominent family of griot and choosing from an early age to embrace the artform that is its lifeblood. Yet traditional pedigree has proven but a stepping-stone for the work Noura and her band have embarked upon in recent years, simultaneously popularizing and reimagining Moorish music on the global stage, taking her family’s legacy to new heights as arguably Mauritania’s most widely exported musical act of all time. Gamely wielding the griot’s idiom, a form itself distilled from centuries of trans-Saharan musical knowledge, Noura Mint Seymali’s sound as heard on this record carves out a unique position in the musical cartography of West Africa, at once her country’s leading proponent of the avant garde and yet a rigorously devoted tradition-bearer.

 

Arbina is Noura Mint Seymali’s second international release. Delving deeper into the wellspring of Moorish roots, as is after all the tried and true way of the griot, the album strengthens her core sound, applying a cohesive aesthetic approach to the reinterpretation of Moorish tradition in contemporary context. The band is heard here in full relief; soaring vocals and guitar at the forefront, the mesmerizing sparkle of the ardine, elemental bass lines and propulsive rhythms swirling together to conjure a 360 degree vibe. Arbina refines a sound that the band has gradually intensified over years of touring, aiming to posit a new genre from Mauritania, distinct unto itself; music of the “Azawan.”

 

Supported by guitarist, husband and fellow griot, Jeiche Ould Chighaly, Seymali’s tempestuous voice is answered with electrified counterpoint, his quarter-tone rich guitar phraseology flashing out lightning bolt ideas. Heir to the same music culture as Noura, Jeiche intimates the tidinit’s (Moorish lute) leading role under the wedding khaima with the gusto of a rock guitar hero. Bassist Ousmane Touré, who has innovated a singular style of Moorish low-end groove over the course of many years, can be heard on this album with greater force and vigor than ever before. Drummer/producer Matthew Tinari drives the ensemble forward with the agility and precision need to make the beats cut.

 

Many of the songs on Arbina call out to the divine, asking for grace and protection. “Arbina” is a name for God. The album carries a message about reaching beyond oneself to an infinite spiritual source, while learning to take the finite human actions to necessary to affect reality on earth.   The concept of sëbeu, or that which a human can do to take positive action on their destiny, is animated throughout.   While final outcomes rest in the hands of the creator, the duty to use one’s capacities as a human to work towards our hopes and highest intentions roots us in life and relationship to God. The title track ‘Arbina’ applies this concept to specifically empower women in their decisions about preventative healthcare. It advocates for the concrete task of early screening to prevent breast and uterine cancer, sickness that claimed Noura’s own mother at a premature age, while offering an appeal to the ultimate benevolence of God. “Ghizlane” invokes the concept through metaphor, describing the elusive nature of our dreams and the innate obligation to follow. “Richa” reflects of the power of music as a vehicle.

 

Lyrically, the Moorish griot tradition is complex and associative. Poetry is held in a continuum between author and audience in which a singer may draw on disparate sources, selecting individual lines here or there for musicality to form a lyrical patchwork expressing larger ideas via association. A griot may relate her own thoughts and poetry, sing poetry written for and about her by a third party, and transmit lines from one party addressing another in the course of a single song. With this ever-fluid narrative voice, stories are told.

 

Arbina is a musical act of devotion, calling upon the creator to channel grace through us and uplift our actions.

 

Noura Mint Seymali: voice, ardine, songs

Jeiche Ould Chighaly: guitar

Ousmane Touré: bass

Matthew Tinari: drums

 

Mayassa Hemed Vall: backing vocals (tracks 5 & 6)

 

Produced by Matthew Tinari

Recorded & mixed by Tony Maimone at Studio G, Brooklyn, NY

 

www.nouramintseymali.com/
www.facebook.com/nouramintseymali.music

01 Eguetmar
02 Tzenni
03 El Barm
04 El Madi
05 El Mougelmen
06 Hebebeb (Zrag)
07 Soub Hanallah
08 Tikifite
09 Char’aa
10 Emin Emineïna Chouweynë

 

“Noura Mint Seymali, from Mauritania, comes from an ancient family of griots, and she has a commanding, wide-open voice…the pentatonic melodies of her songs had something in common with the blues. But her fusion was particular and selective…She only meets American music on her own terms.” – New York Times, January 13th, 2014

“She cleverly merges her powerful voice with the twangy guitar sound created by her husband…this Mauritanian music is an excellent example of roots rocketed into the 21st century.” – Songlines, April/May 2014

TZENNI in Hassaniya means to circulate, to spin, to turn. It‘s the name for a whirling dance performed to the music of Moorish griots, often under khaima tents thrown up for street gatherings in the sandy quartiers of Nouakchott and out across the wide deserts of Mauritania. Tzenni is an orbit, the movement of the earth around the sun, the daily progression of light and dark, lunar cycles, tides and winds. Tzenni, the dance, comes forth as the cyclical trajectory of a Moorish musical gathering builds to a fervorous pitch. It‘s a word whose expansive valence reminds us how only the most basic reality can create such romantic metaphor.

Produced and recorded across an appropriately dizzying array of locations and social contexts (New York City, Dakar, Nouakchott) the album Tzenni is a contemporary articulation of Moorish griot music from Mauritania—an artform that has been evolving and gaining momentum for centuries – as voiced by Noura Mint Seymali, an artist profoundly steeped in its history and rigorously devoted to its global resonance.

Noura Mint Seymali comes from a long line of visionary musicians. Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall, her father, was a scholar-artist instrumental in opening Mauritanian music to the world; devising the first system for Moorish melodic notation, adapting music for the national anthem, and composing works popularized by his wife (Noura‘s step-mother), the great Dimi Mint Abba. From her precocious beginnings as a teenaged backing vocalist with Dimi Mint Abba, Noura Mint Seymali now drives the legacy forward, re-calibrating Moorish music for our contemporary moment. Her band‘s arrangements, rigor, and experimental spirit may be understood as a continuation of the tradition of Seymali, Dimi, her grandmother Mounina, and countless others.

Together with her husband, heroic guitarist Jeiche Ould Chighaly, who brings the force of yet another powerful branch of Moorish musical lineage, the band on this recording was conceived as a distillation of essential elements, the ―azawan‖ and the backbeat. The ardine & tidinit (or guitar) together are the ―azawan,‖ the leading ensemble of Moorish traditional music, while bass & drums, played here by Ousmane Touré and Matthew Tinari, fortify it with genre transcendent funk and a basic pop urgency. Tzenni re-visits several classics of the Moorish repertoire, but does so within a novel formation, conversant in the pop idiom, and with Noura Mint Seymali’s personal history interwoven throughout. The practice of aligning music to a given socio-historical and personal moment is an essential charge of the iggawen, or griot, and, we believe, of artists everywhere.

As we seek to convey another turn in the Mauritanian musical dialectic, Tzenni is ultimately an album about shape shifting, faith, and stability found through instability. It‘s about taking the positive with the negative in a world that can only ever keep turning at break neck speed. We invite you to spin with us, to dance with us, through the music on this recording! –Matthew Tinari: producer/drummer for Noura Mint Seymali

1 – Eguetmar
Eguetmar recites a simple dialogue between two men meeting in a foreign land:
A: I feel like a stranger here, alone and without my family. My longing makes me feel desperation as a baby being weaned from its mother. I fear I must try to forget my family in order to succeed.
B: Have faith; I guarantee you will return to your family. In the name of God, I shall offer you all you need to return. ―Bismillah.‖

2 – Tzenni
Tzenni is a reflection on change and instability. The poet is tormented and troubled, but takes refuge in the fact of impermanence. ―Everything turns, everything changes. Nothing in this life is stable; everything can change at a moment‘s notice. Sometimes life brings happiness and sometimes sadness. What real decisions can be made, what course can be taken in a world that‘s always changing?‖

3 – El Barm
A classic of Mauritanian traditional repertoire, ―El Barm‖ is a love song. Sung in the voice of a restless, unstable man who believes he may never change and is destined to wander forever, he now marvels at how his life has ultimately been altered by a woman, in whom he has at last found stability. Their love has changed his course in a way he thought was impossible; as impossible as combining the East with the West. Various metaphors for the impossible ensue.

4 – El Madi
―El Madi‖ means ―the past.‖ The song is the reflection of a prisoner jailed in the time before Mauritania‘s independence. He addresses a lover on the outside, remembering their past: ―The judge will not free me to see you. I‘m imprisoned unjustly and long to see you again. As I dream of you I‘m blinded by the gold of your headdress, shining so brightly in my memory.‖ In traditional context, ―El Madi‖ is a dance performed by women.

5 – El Mougelmen
El Mougelmen is a dish in Mauritania made from a mix of spices and flowers. Similarly, the song‘s lyrics are a mix of different lines of poetry, thematically unrelated and chosen for musicality, mashed up via free association in a way similar to the ingredients of the dish. ―My thoughts are on the women of today,‖ Noura sings – women implicitly being the makers of El Mougelmen. ―God bestows blessings and takes them away,‖ blessings such as food and sustenance.

6 – Hebebeb (Zrag)
Composed by Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall. The poet is overtaken by the beauty of a woman, named Mariam, picking dates in a grove of trees. Rather than addressing Mariam directly, he pleads with her friend, Heydana, to sing for Mariam in order to attract her attention. He asks Heydana, ―repeat after me, ‗Hebebeb…‘ Always sing this song for her early in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening‖

7 – Soub Hanallah
A sacred song devoted to the prophet Mohammed (p.s.l.) and asking God for forgiveness. May God forgive and protect parents, sisters, brothers, and all loved ones. May God grant mercy upon our sins. Soub Hanallah recites numerous praise names for the prophet.

8 – Tikifite
Tikifite is an herb that is believed to heal the liver and stomach. ―Stir the tikite‖ a man asks, he wishes to be healed and together with his soul mate. A song often performed by Dimi Mint Abba, poetry written for her is often included; ―Dimi when you sing for me it heals me.‖

9 – Char‘aa
Char‘aa is primarily a dance. The title refers to the dance / rhythm which precedes the singing. The text here is that of an old praise song, sung originally for the prophet Mohammed (p.s.l.) upon his return to Medina after victory in battle.

10 – Emin Emineïna Chouweynë
Dedicated to Noura‘s paternal grandmother Mounina, a great singer and musician, the song assembles various lines of poetry written about her. The title, literally ―where are you ugly?,‖ originates from a line questioning popular criticism of Mounina by posing a simple question; ―they may say that you are ugly, but where can this ugliness be found?‖ Another line concerns Noura herself, offered to her as a compliment, by a poet who says her voice is as beautiful as Mounina‘s. The text mourns how Mounina‘s absence leaves a void.

01 Eguetmar
02 Tzenni
03 El Barm
04 El Madi
05 El Mougelmen
06 Hebebeb (Zrag)
07 Soub Hanallah
08 Tikifite
09 Char’aa
10 Emin Emineïna Chouweynë

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