INTERVIEW EL PAÍS (BABELIA) • 28 ENERO 2006

Mariem Hassan has become the most representative voice of the music of Western Sahara
throughout the world. With two electric guitars and two tebals she has synthesized the spirit of
the Haul and without losing an apex of freshness been able to place it into the XXIst century.
Her concerts are powerful. The public can discover a solid and decided artist singing about her
wishes and the needs of her people. Mariem sings in hassania, the language of that corner in
the desert which is her homeland. Her intense voice leads us through mysterious paths on which
struggle and tragedy shake hands with tenderness and intimate feelings.
Different dances, performed by the percussionist, enrich a repertoire based on traditional and
spiritual songs as well as modern ones. The group has been able to develop a sound where there
is space for blues, reggae and echoes of other current music.
In the seventies, Mariem joined forces with El Uali. With this group she toured many countries
to take part in cultural events of high political impact. From this supported base, Mariem Hassan
has sung for more than thirty years.
She had recorded and participated in different collective CDs. DESEOS (Nubenegra, 2005) is
her real first solo album. A documentary film: MARIEM HASSAN, The Voice of the Sahara
(55’), was released in 2008 and presented at the FISAHARA festival. SHOUKA (Nubenegra,
2010) is her brand new CD, an ambitious work (see informations below).
She has performed with a cream of talent on numerous occasions and extensively toured Europe
performing at numerous concerts and festivals. These include WOMEX, Forum de las Culturas
in Barcelona, Casa Encendida in Madrid, Espace Senghor, AfroPfingsten, Africa Festival
Würzburg, Les Escales festival, Umo Jazz Club in Helsinki, Festival FMM Sines (Portugal),
Festival Habibi Beats (Cologne), Festival Ostrava (Czech Republic), and concerts in Antwerpen,
Zurich, Luxembourg, Austria, Stockholm and Spain.
After her performances 2008 at WOMAD Cáceres and WOMAD Canarias, Mariem Hassan was
invited to WOMAD UK (Chartlon Park) where she performed in July 2009, and also in
September at WOMAD Sicily (Taormina). In march 2010 Mariem participated at WOMADelaide
(Australia) and WOMAD NZ (New Zealand).
Her show at WOMAD UK, the first day of the festival, was reviewed by:
Nick Hasted, THE INDEPENDENT
The early highlight is Mariem Hassan. She plays a version of the Saharan blues popularised by
Tinariwen, the result of rebel fighters in refugee camps plugging into Led Zeppelin, and their
Mississippi sources. Black-robed Mariem Hassan is a spokeswoman for the rebel nomad tribes of
Western Sahara, easy to believe as her rapid ululations drill through the air. You can only
imagine the cultural and political barriers she brazens through daily. Dirty rhythmic lead guitar
helps the job here. Nor are potent resistance songs her only talent. As we're cheerily informed
"Mariem will be cooking later at the Taste the World tent”, of course.
Stefan Simanowitz, MUSIC OMH
Revellers at this year's 27th WOMAD festival, traditionally a family-friendly favourite of
alternative lifestylers and world music fans, were taken aback to see Prince Harry sauntering
across the immaculate grounds of Charlton Park. Wearing a green woolly beanie, the third-inline to the throne was spotted mixing with the crowds before being stopped in his tracks by the
voice of Western Saharan singer, Mariem Hassan, which soared through the warm afternoon air.
Hassan started her set with a 'mawal', a graceful song sung without accompaniment before
moving on to the mesmeric desert blues for which she is famed. She sang of love, of heartache
but most of all she sang of the suffering and hopes of her people in their struggle for independence in Africa's last colony.
Her sound is steeped in the Saharawi/Hassania traditions, fusing the traditional rhythmic 'haul'
with blues and rock and accompanied by the tebal, a goatskin drum and electric guitar. Hassan's
earthy rippling rhythms start slowly and intensify, lifting the spirit and penetrating the bone.
COMMENTS
DIVERSE
What a woman! I am not knowing her, I don´t know where she comes from or what she sings,
but I couldn´t turn away to look on her. I need to buy a record of her.
(English spectator in a concert in Granada)
Mariem Hassan’s album is the rawest, dirtiest slice of blues I’ve heard in quite a while. Like every
desert blues artist I’ve encountered, their music has an extraordinary intensity to it; unlike
many, they also have variety on their side. (Jamie Renton, FRoots)
Mariem Hassan con Leyoad. This debut solo CD from the great Saharawi singer Mariem Hassan
proves that divine grace has not deserted the musicians of the country and neither has divine
strength and hope forsaken its people. (Andy Morgan, Songlines)
In refugee camps in Algeria, the music of the nomadic Saharawi people is thriving, and here their
raw-voiced diva Mariem Hassan gives voice to their determination to “kneel before no one” –
combining elemental traditional sounds with bluesly electric guitar. (M. Hudson, Telegraph)
La musique de Mariem Hassan est joyeuse, entraînante et fière, tout en criant la détresse de l’exil
forcé. Entre blues mandingue virtuose et arabesques mélodiques, la musique distille un groove
fascinant sur lequel vient planner le chant poignant de Mariem Hassan.
(Benjamin Minimum, Mondomix)
Ella tiene el blues. Puro latido de un Sáhara Occidental en plena lucha por la libertad.
(Jazzthetik)
Mariem, cantante de excepción, con su voz rasgada y llena de matices es capaz de llevar las melodías más amables a los temas más comprometidos. (La Vanguardia)
SHOUKA
new CD
MARIEM HASSAN
NUBENEGRA INN 1136-2
January 2010
Songs of entrancing intimacy and poetry and a clear message to fight injustice, discrimination
and persecution. All songs have been developed in a close complicity with the poet Lamin Allal
and the guitarist, Lamgaifri Brahim. Although very young, he is in the possession of all the
subtleties of the Haul music. And Mariem, with the lack of a appropriate Saharaui guitarist over
the last years, reacted inspired bringing out all the songs she had accumulated in her mind
waiting for this moment. The CD also contains an innovating music work,the title song
“Shouka” is a cantata developed by using all scales and rhythms of the Haul
SHOUKA is different from DESEOS her former CD, of which the songs had been experienced on
stage long before being recorded.
SHOUKA is a stirring and mature new work of Mariem Hassan with the participation of kindred
musicians from Haiti, Iran and Spain. But the essence of the traditional Haul is impressively
kept by Vadiya Mint el Hanevi, percussionist, chorus and dance, Lamgaifri Brahim, guitar,
Mariem Hassan herself and the important cooperation of the poet Lamin Allal.
The European radio journalist reacted with enthusiasm to SHOUKA:
MARCH
WORLD MUSIC CHARTS EUROPE
· NUMBER 1 ·
APRIL
WORLD MUSIC CHARTS EUROPE
· NUMBER 2 ·
2010
WORLD MUSIC CHARTS EUROPE
· of 866 nominated CDs·
· NUMBER 4 ·
REVIEW
SONGLINES · JULY - AUGUST 2010
· TOP OF THE WORLD ·
MARIEM HASSAN
SHOUKA
NUBENEGRA INN 1136-2
Full price (70 mins)
****
PRICKLY BUT BEAUTIFUL
There hasn’t been much news from the Western Sahara recently. But all is not quiet on the
Western front. Shouka (The Thorn), is a defiantly honest and eloquent hymn to the pride and
strength of the Sahraoui people, and to their pain and suffering ever since the Moroccan invasion
of 1975.
With its lacerating starkness, molten intensity and gripping power, Mariem Hassan’s voice is the
metaphorical thorn plunged deep into the soft soul of the Moroccan conscience, or the rest of the
world’s careless amnesia. But where there are thorns, there is usually some beautiful flower or
luscious fruit near at hand.
Shouka is not just a kick for self-flagellants. Its palette of emotions ranges from defiance and
melancholy to sinuous coquettishness, conveying a love of home and the joy of the hot, clean
desert wind. All these colours are painted with stark handclaps, booming tebal drums, fulsome
airborne backing vocals, warm breathy nay flutes, ghostly clarinets and the scuttling guitar work
of Lamgaifri Brahim and Malick Diaw, which, at its best, combines the raw sexual grime of
classic Chess-label blues with the nano-intricacies that have made the Sahraoui guitar style so
famous.
The experienced Nubenegra production team of Manuel Domínguez and engineer Hugo
Westerdahl give this complex and nuanced mixture a fitting uncluttered and honest setting.
The album reaches its apotheosis in the title-track, modestly tucked away in penultimate
position. It’s a 12-minute epic in which Hassan’s whiplash wail spars with the ghostly recording
of a speech made by Spanish politician and erstwhile prime minister, Felipe González, in the
then newly founded Sahraoui refugee camps in western Algeria back in 1976. Hassan gives the
politician’s broken promises the slicing they deserve. Andy Morgan
REVIEW
Les inRocKuptibles · Septembre 2010
MARIEM HASSAN
Shouka
Nubenegra INN 1136-2
Venue du Sahara, une voix puissante et pénétrante.
En 2010, on a donc fêté les 50 ans des indépendances africaines. Et puis, un grain de sable (ou
plutôt une tempête de sable) dans les rouages de la célébration: la question non résolue du
Sahara Occidental, coincé entre l'océan Atlantique, la Mauritanie, l'Algérie et le Maroc. Une excolonie espagnole, aujourd'hui annexée par le Maroc.
Des saharaouis résistent. Mariem Hassan est leur voix. Et la nôtre, parce que cette voix déchire
tout, l'une des plus poignantes et puissantes qu'il soit donné d'entendre aujourd'hui. La musique
de Mariem Hassan est une forme hybride de blues du désert, à la fois archaïque et moderne: des
guitares électriques crochues, des percussions hypnotiques, quelques flûtes et des vocalises
lancinantes, douces et désespérées, comme les berceuses d'une mère à son enfant malade, à son
pays volé. De la soul-music fêlée, révoltée, necessaire, une expression personnelle à la mesure de
l'oppression colective. Parfois à la limite de la dissonance, mais toujours juste. “Shouka” veut
dire “l'épine”: ça fait mal mais c'est le pied. Stéphane Deschamps
REVIEW
fRoots · March 2010
This is the third album that I am aware of from the Spanish-based Sahraoui from West Sahara,
and with each successive release this singer of extraordinary power and intensity digs deeper
into the melancholy rawness of exile and hope. Hassan attacks each of the 16 deeply emotional
songs on Shouka with guttural passion, her powerhouse vocals containing a real kick, supported
by music that is all about sheer visceral charge rather than melodic or rhythmic nuance. The
central (and often sole) musical plank is comprised of guitarists Lamgaifri Brahim and Malick
Diaw who wind desert blues licks around the quivering thrum of the tebal drum like a raunchier,
dirtier Tinariwen. Add the breathy call of ney flute, supportive handclaps and ululations and the
campfire celebratory feel of that other desert blues troupe, Tartit, is also invoked at times.
But comparisons with the Touareg bands only go so far. This is far more stark fare, the songs
more like shortened, hypnotic versions of the elemental sheikhat Berber music of neighbouring
Morocco – somewhat ironic given that the subject matter of much of this material is the
continued struggle of Mariem Hassan’s compatriots against Moroccan occupation of Western
Sahara. The centrepiece of all this is the title track, a fiery, driving response to a Spanish
politician’s empty post-colonial promises – the type of polemic that may lack verbal impact due
to the language barrier but which contains a musical and vocal spirit of undeniable expressive
force.
Stirring, uncompromising, magnetic – Shouka is a formidable recording driven by
a formidably imposing voice. Con Murphy
BLOGGER
March 2010
On the day of all-time record snowfall in big d, I drove through it listening to a singer from the
West Sahara desert. It was a sublime experience.
My commute home today took three times as long as usual, but it went quicker than it would
have otherwise, because I had Mariem Hassan’s new CD Shouka on–I should say, a CD I burned
from Ms Hassan’s latest album on iTunes. Her CDs seem to be unavailable in the US, including
on Amazon.
She is my new favorite singer. She uses a lot of the melisma that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was
known for, and she sings in an Arabic dialect, but her voice has a raspy quality that reminds me
of some of the soul and girl-group singers. Kind of a cross between Ronnie Spector and Ann
Peebles. Put that raw, penetrating voice over African guitar lines that sound like Ali Farka Toure,
add a little percussion and girl-group backing, and you have Shouka.
I have heard other Mariem Hassan music that sounds more Western, almost rockish or AfroPop, and some that sounds like African folk music. This album is right in the middle. I can’t
unequivocally recommend it, just because people used to US radio may be put off by the “ethnic”
intensity of it, particularly the ululating. Western ears are used to James Brown’s squeals, even
Tom Waits’ growls, but ululating? May need to give it time…
FIRST WORLD MUSIC · CEEDEE OF THE WEEK
April 2010
"Shouka" is the third solo ceedee by the Sahraoui singer, Mariem Hassan. The Sahraoui are
culturally related to the Moors of Mauritania. They speak the same language, Hassaniya, and
many other cultural commonalities stem from this.
Their music is very much akin to Moorish music with notable differences. The ardin, emblematic
instrument of female Moorish dièliw, seems to be non-existent among the Sahraouis.
Instrumental preludes, on which the singer displays her skill at appregi, are now played
exclusively on guitar. The tidinit has been eclipsed by a preference for acoustic and electric
guitars. Finally, the two principal Moorish styles; black and white, and the five modes, are all in
evidence as the music successfully evoke pleasure, joy, religious feeling, pride, anger, love,
sadness and nostalgia. Of course, a concert setting is the better venue to assess if the correct
order of playing the modes is still adhered to among the Sahraoui.
Ms. Hassan's singing style is loud. Sometimes strident. It's hard to imagine her singing a lullaby.
She's got a strong, hot and dry voice that supports the style. It's also flexible as she can easily
execute exciting ornamentation such as vibrato and melismas.
The songs in [what I would think of as] the black way [Ragast Naama, Maatal-la, Azzagafa] are
very exciting as propulsive tbal, tense ostinati picked on electric guitar and sometimes handclaps
and ululating, all conspire to raise the blood and call to dance around the campfire. The same
effect is achieved on "Terwah" as the rhythm increases in tempo towards the end. The guitar
work on 'Salem" reminds me of something that Koïté Habib might do. The bass playing is
noteworthy here as well.
However, the biggest and brightest jewel in the diadem is undoubtedly the title track. At twelve
minutes long, it is an ambitious work. In 1976, Felipe Gonzalez [then leader of the Socialist
Workers Party and later Prime Minister of Spain] delivered a speech to the Sahraoui in their
refugee camps in southern Algeria. It was a speech of condemnation of Morocco for their
invasion of Western Sahara the year before. It was also an expression of solidarity with the
people. Thirty-three years later, Ms. Hassan takes excerpts of this speech in the voice of Felipe
Gonzalez, and follows them with verses in agreement and also amplifying his words. Each verse
accompanied by music played in a distinct mode, so there is a lot of movement within the piece.
Ms. Hassan's singing seems even more fervent on this track. The penultimate verse sounds a
triumphant and celebratory note. Taken as a whole, it is very satisfying.
The year is still young, but "Shouka" is at the top of my list for the best African
ceedee released so far in 2010. Akenataa Hammagaadji
GLOBAL A GO-GO · WRIR 97.3 FM
April 2010
Mariem Hassan is the leading musical voice of Western Sahara, the last colony of Africa (granted
independence by Spain in 1975 but occupied by Morocco since then). She now lives in Barcelona,
but spent 26 years living in a Sahrawi refugee camp in Algeria. Singing in the local Arabic dialect
of Hassaniya, her powerful voice is one of the great instruments in contemporary Africa music.
Musically, her style is closely related to the desert blues of Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Niger –
stinging electric guitars drive the sound, accompanied by tebal (goatskin drum) and ululating
female voices. If you like artists like Tinariwen, Ali Farka Toure, Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck
and Malouma, this is for you. One of the best African recordings of 2010, for sure. Bill
Lupoletti
ROOTS WORLD
April 2010
Though Mariem Hassan has been making the occasional record for at least the past 8 years,
Shouka manages to be the first to properly marry her voice and lyrics to arrangements befitting a
singer of such authority. With a small army of electric guitars delivering single-chord droning
riffs, Hassan spins tales of injustice and female empowerment. And the best parts of this discthe rawer, least produced hunks- are better examples of Western Saharan Saharawi music than
anything Tinariwen, Etran Finatawa or Terakaft have in their discographies.
Hassan comes with the experience of life in the Smara refugee camp, one of some dozen instant
villages that appeared over the Algerian border from the Western Sahara in the mid seventies, as
Spain decolonized and the Moroccan military swooped in. Ironically, even in these camps,
human rights are under in question, though simply getting inside Algeria, and then dealing with
the remoteness of it all has no doubt allowed for such a paucity of credible information. Yet, it is
also in the camps that women like Hassan are able to be educated, demand equal rights and
divorce their husbands, as Hassan did when a past partner tried to keep her from singing.
Indeed, the Saharawi are a culture largely nurtured by women.
And it’s this sort of cultural complexity that makes this woman’s music so intense. “Ala Ahd
Said” finds its groove immediately, as two guitars compliment each so well you can almost hear
them blush. This is slow music, taking its time to shape itself, shifting as subtly as the Saharan
sands. The riffs are thick and Hassan doesn’t sing over them; she rides them. Like the music of
their Gnawa neighbors to the north, or proto-Rai from such Algerian singers as Cheikha Remitti,
the music of the Saharawi is seductive, endless, and ultimately trance-inducing. Here and there,
a track might have a wind instrument, a strummed acoustic guitar or an electric bass, but most
of this music uses repetitive, guitar heaviness and ululations to set up patterns for Hassan to spin
tales. From “Eid Arbain,” where her voice soars like a kite over a suspended chord, to “Baba
Salama,” which pits her over a single guitar until a loping camel rhythm finally catches things
before they fly apart, Shouka is well over an hour of songs by a woman who has clearly fought to
be a leader and spokesperson for not only her people, but an entire musical style. Bruce Miller
BIOGRAPHY
MARIEM HASSAN
They built up their tents in the surroundings of the holy city Smara, in the valley of Saguia el
Hamra, next to the river Tasua. The family lived off their herd of camels and goats. There, in the
year ´58, Mariem Hassan came into the world, the third of ten brothers and sisters.
They weren't a family of igawen (griots), though the music was an important part of their family
life. Her father had a good voice but the artistic gift came from her mothers' side. Her aunt Zaina
was quite known as a singer and dancer, her uncle Bushad as a poet and her mother used to sing
on birthday celebrations, weddings, in Ramadan or simply if a friend they hadn't seen for a long
time came to visit them. Among her brothers there is Boika Hassan, a good guitar player and
Mohamed Salem, a poet.
Already very young, when the Western Sahara still belonged to Spain, Mariem used to sing in
small private parties and participated in the clandestine meetings, where the saharaui people
rendered their musical culture. It seemed a very natural thing to do. Although two of her
brothers were in the Spanish army, the family and their surroundings were longing for the
independence of their country, like all the former African colonies did in these years.
Mariem was 17 years old when the "Marcha Verde" (Green March) took place. Her two
brothers who were in the Spanish army (Nomad troops) had cars and so were able to bring the
family to Mjeriz, next to Tifariti, first stage of the exodus. From there they proceeded via Argelia
to a place in the inhospitable Hamada. Their camp is known as Smara, in remembrance of the
town the biggest part of its inhabitants had to leave behind. Mariem Hassan has lived there for
26 years. This is the place where her five children were born. Today she lives with her husband
and children in Barcelona.
The four big camps are named after the four wilayas - provinces - of the Western Sahara - Smara,
El Aaiun, Auserd and Dajla - and organized in the same way. Each wilaya is divided in dairas districts - and those are divided in quarters. In each of these localities a group of musicians takes
charge of maintaining the traditional culture.
The Frente Polisario realized the necessity of having a permanent group of musicians with
clear political ideas that could help with the international promotion of their concerns. Those
were the years when Spain had numerous politic songwriters, the "Nueva Trova Cubana" had her
best moments and people still were listening to the songs of Victor Jara and Quilapayún. That's
how the group named "Martir el Uali Mustafa Sayed", better known as El Uali, came into life.
Mariem immediately became part of the group and travelled with them to various countries to
take part in cultural events of a high political impact that during the war with Morocco often
were boycotted by Moroccan activists and functionaries. El Uali recorded four or five albums in
different countries, always with the help of the solidarity committee concerned. Among these
albums "Polisario Vencerá" stands out, which was produced by Mohamed Tami, Saharawi
Minister of Education from the late 70s to the mid 80s. Originally, it was published by
Guimbarda in 1982, then again in 1998 by Nubenegra.
Mariem Hassan like many of the other women that participated in El Uali took part in recordings
or tours whenever she was able to, i.e., if she was not pregnant or had to care for her children.
She is on the album that was recorded in Holland in 1980, but which never was published, and
on the one that was published in France in 1989 but didn't get far either, because twhe tour that
was being prepared to substitute the launching of the album had to be suspended.
Therefore it wasn't until 1998 when we finally could enjoy Mariem's voice in some songs of the
album “A pesar de las heridas”. Among these the “Canción de la Intifada” stands out and
since then has been one of the sparkling songs during the following concerts of Leyoad in
Europe. After four years of intense work with Nubenegra, Leyoad has grown strong thanks to the
two important members of the group, Mariem Hassan and Nayim Alal.
Lately Mariem Hassan has focused more on writing music. By summer 2000 Nubenegra
proposed Leyoad to record a new album and Mariem contributed beautiful songs like “Sahara
neb gija” or “Yasar geidu”. And it is in fact the album “Mariem Hassan con Leyoad” which
marks the beginning of the solo career of Mariem.
2003 Mariem performed at the Jazzfestival in Moers, in theatres in Ermua and Alsasua (Basque
Country) and also in France in Bordeaux, Gonfreville and Le Mans.
The critics unanimously recognized her as the best voice of the Western Sahara, which Mariem
Hassan contributed again with the launching of the album “Medej” in May 2004. That same
year she toured extensively in Europe participating in festivals like Forum de las Culturas,
Barcelona, AfroPfingsten, Winterthur, Africa Festival, Würzburg, Liederflut, Leipzig, Les
Escales, France, Etno Soi, Helsinki, Festival Vía Magna, Madrid, Artistas en Ruta, doing concerts
in Brussels, Antwerpen and Luxemburg, Moods, Zurich, and in 20 different Spanish cities.
2005, from the 7th to the 18th of March Mariem was invited by the Jeunesses Musicales of
Belgium for workshops and concerts. One week before leaving for Belgium she had got the
diagnosis of a breast cancer and was operated right after returning to Spain, in Barcelone.
“Deseos” (2005), her real first solo album started in 2004 with the musical direction and guitar
of Baba Salama, with her brother Boika on guitar too and the percussionist Fatta. With this
quartet she had been apt to recreate the whole universe of the Haul. In the intimacy of this small
group her figure had grown immensely large and left us speechless with the intensity of her
voice.
Deseos is an ardent album, full of rhythm, which seemingly doesn't reveal the tragedies
happening during its gestation: the leukemia and the death of Baba Salama before the album was
published and the cancer of breast of Mariem herself.
The mutual understanding of that quartet can be appreciated in “La tumchu anni”, an
impressive blues with taste of sand and heat, a song talking about the still unsettled situation of
her invaded country, don't desert us! In “Magat milkitna dulaa” the two electric guitars let her
voice fly with unique energies into the four directions of the wind. And finally we can listen to the
electric version of the “Intifada”, her best known song related to a rising in the occupied
territories.
Six months later Mariem Hassan returned on stage to present Deseos, her new release. The first
live performance was in September 2005 at Mercat de Música Viva in Vic (Barceloma) followed
by the international music meeting of WOMEX, Newcastle (England) with a memorable concert.
2006 to 2008 was a time of transition, Mariem trying to restructure her group and adapting to
the new situation. Years of hard work with performances at some important venues as Södra
Teatern (She’s a Rebel program, with Souad Massi and Natacha Atlas), Habibi Beats
(Funkhaus Europa’s Summer Stage), Sines Festival (Portugal), Concert at the Dunes
(FISAHARA) and many others.
These years have been closely related with documentaries about Mariem, the exile and the
occupied Western Sahara. Outstanding the documentary “La Puerta del Sahara”, directed by
Susy Alvarado, with the soundtrack by Hugo Westerdahl based on the music of Mariem Hassan
and her companions and the documentary, ”The Voice of the Sahara”, about Mariem Hassan
produced by CanalMicro. And at the same time plenty of videos appeared about the Saharawi
Intifada, placed on Youtube, using the songs of Mariem.
After many years flirting with WOMAD finally Mariem Hassan played successfully at the Spanish
venues, Cáceres & Canarias, in 2008, UK WOMAD and WOMAD Sicily in 2009, WOMADelaide
and WOMAD NZ, in Australia and New Zealand, in 2010.
Shouka was recorded in Madrid in a politically very strained atmosphere. During a recording
break, Mariem and her musicians where attacked by young Moroccans in Madrid, near to the
record studio Axis.
REVIEW
SONGLINES · MARCH-APRIL 2006
· TOP OF THE WORLD ·
MARIEM HASSAN
DESEOS
NUBENEGRA INN 1128-2
Full price (55 mins)
****
Steely and determined desert blues
One plaintive wait into Deseos and we’re in the western Sahara – all cruel beauty and vast
nothingness – contemplating our insignificance and, indeed, whether this very personal album
will finally see Mariem Hassan crowned queen of the desert blues. It should –those who caught
her showcase at last year’s WOMEX expo were blown away by the powerful, confident delivery of
Hassan. Wearing a blue jewelled headscarf, she sang in her native Hassania (the language of the
nomadic Saharaui people, latterly of the refugee camps of southern Algeria) with a voice as raw
as gravel. The Barcelona-based mother of five led her quartet through a modernised version of
the haul style of music. Few watching knew that she had recently beaten cancer, but Hassan has
always been a fighter. When her first husband refused to let her sing, she divorced him, joining a
touring group whose lyrics were aimed at motivating social and political action.
Produced bay the late Baba Salama, streaked with traces of reggae, rock and, of course blues,
Deseos conveys the dignity and determination of the displaced through songs of love, faith and
resistance. “La Tumchu Anni” (don’t desert me) is a reminder that her people’s situation remains
unsettled. “Magat Milkitna Dulaa” (Never) is a riff-heavy take on “love-thy-neighbour”
sentiments, and the well known “L’Intifada” is an electrified number about the occupied territories. A feminist icon if ever there was one, Hassan has an entire desert’s worth of cred.
Jane Cornwell
SPOTLIGHT
GLOBAL RHYTHM · MARCH 2006
MARIEM HASSAN
When you hear the muezzin's call to prayer from atop a North African or Middle Eastern
minaret, can you imaigine John Lee Hooker's spare, haunted acoustic guitar beneath it? If so,
take that combination and put the voice into a weathered but proud desert woman, and you're
halfway to understanding the astonishing music of Mariem Hassan. Hassan's people, the
Saharawis, are a nomadic tribe that has spent decades in exile on Algerian land, after rebelling
against their Spanish colonial masters in the mid-1970s.
Saharawi society is matriarchal in structure; unlike most Muslim societies, theirs allows women
to divorce their husbands. Still, when a double album by the Saharawi group El Uali, of which
Hassan was a member, was recorded and released in 1982, she was too busy with her thenhusband and five children to participate. In 1998, when Nubenegra Records head Manuel
Dominguez returned to the refugee camps, he met her and recorded her, among others, for a
three-CD set simply called The Music of the Saharawi.
Hassan appeared on one of the discs and stood out immediately. Following that, she sang four
songs on Luis Delgado's El Hechizo de Babilonia, and was the featured voice on the album
Mariem Hassan con Leyoad, both released on Nubenegra. Deseos, though, also on Nubenegra,
is Hassan's first album as a true leader.
Like the Tuaregs, the Saharawi have incorporated the pain of their displacement into
astonishingly powerful music, by combining traditional instruments with stinging electric guitar.
The instrumentation on Deseos ('Wishes") is spare the traditional drum, known as a tidinit,
provides the primary rhythm, accentuated by handclaps and call-and-response vocal s from
other women. The lead guitars are played by Boika Hassan and Baba Salama, the latter of whom
unfortunately passed away shortly before the disc was released. His fleet and bluesy lines are
reminiscent of Eric Clapton-the early-70s Clapton, before he lost it.
Hassan's voice, floating above it all, will almost certainly appeal equally to fans of Tinariwen,
Patti Smith and the Mississippi hill country blues of Junior Kimbrough. With a solo debut this
powerful, Mariem Hassan should quickly find the audience she deserves. PHIL FREEMAN
REVIEW
fROOTS · JANUARY 2006
MARIEM HASSAN
DESEOS
Nubenegra INN 1128-2
"No state has managed to enslave us nor have we lived under its protection," Mariem Hassan's
CD is a cry for independence for the Saharawi - the forgotten nomads of the Western Sahara and
their burning desire for the proclamation of an independent Arabic Republic. This is a desire
that has been raging in the hearts of the desert freedom fighters - Frente Polisario - for more
then 30 years now as their land has been seized by Morocco in the face of a ruling by the
international court of justice. Their discontent and suffering has over the years become the fuel
to an idiosyncratic desert blues unique in terms of drive, political content and desert grit.
Mariem has been living in Barcelona for a year. A European existence outside the encampments
made possible only through the help of Spanish label Nubenegra - one of the very few labels in
the world to release the recordings of the Saharawi. Although she has had a brush with the
recording industry (she can be heard on quite a few controversial recordings actually made in the
Saharan refugee camps), this is in actual fact her first professionally produced solo release.
Her voice is both impressive and intense and yet somehow, in the expression of its ideals as
intimate as a mother's (perhaps a skill learnt as the third of ten siblings). Mariem's approach to
the vocal befits that of her approach to life; it gives one a sense of emancipation and adventure.
Its lilting chanting takes us on an aural nomadic journey through the camps of Tinduf. Her
satiated vocals sear over the two electric guitars and a steady beat on the tebal (a big frame
drum), as she paints the skeleton of the intifada (her best known song related to a rising in the
occupied territories).
She is the embodiment of a treasured desert tradition called haul music, an ancient modal desert
blues with revolutionary lyrics and gritty guitar blues a la Tinariwen. And she sings as a woman
who wishes to rid herself not just of the pain of having lost most of her relatives in the war
against Morocco, but of the pain of her people - the forgotten and displaced nomads of the
Sahara - and of its martyrs whose bones are buried deep in the Sahara. The lyrics of her title
track Deseos translate as: "God forgive me for my bitterness and for what is happening to me".
Deseos is the blues anthem par excellence for a people whose rights to self-determination have
been diluted. Hélène Rammant
DOCUMENTARY
MARIEM HASSAN, the Voice of the Sahara.
SYNOPSIS
Mariem Hassan is the voice of the Sahara, the voice of the desert. Adored by the Saharawi living
in exile, Mariem Hassan is an icon that gives hope to those who still live in the territories
occupied by Morocco. With her prodigious voice and intelligence, she's been able to bring up to
date Saharawi music and make it attractive for 21st century music audiences. In the film we go
through Mariem's misfortuned life, we discover her as a courageous and enduring character and
we witness her artistic transformation into one of the most charismatic and respected figures of
the World Music scene.
INTERVIEW
fROOTS · MARCH 2006
MARIEM HASSAN · Saharawi Voice
Now Barcelona-based, Mariem Hassan is one of the key musical voices
of the exiled peoples of the Western Sahara. Hélène Rammant joins her
in freezing Amsterdam.
A freezing Saturday afternoon in Amsterdam might not be everybody's ideal backdrop for
enjoying the music of the Sahara! The Sahara, Amsterdam may not be, but the shifting sands of
its politics have followed Mariem and her career around like the nomadic Saharawi tribe that
gave birth to her. Tragically, in 1998 a member of the audience was killed when a bomb exploded
in the concert hall, but tonight was just about music. I joined a small, rather shy middle-aged
audience curious to come and listen to these musicians in exile, perhaps nobody had told them in
the bar that Mariem's concerts have in the past been targeted by Moroccan nationalist activists.
The Tropen theatre is a concert hall attached to the illustrious national theatre for 'tropical' arts.
Its annexed concert hall is a small cosy theatre, London planetarium-like, where you might easily
expect a constellation projection or a lecture on the joys of liberalism ... a very safe, almost
academic kind of place with rows of cinema seats. It's a world apart from the rather harsh
conditions of the wilayas or refugee camps where, until two years ago, Mariem had lived for 26
years.
Mariem was 17 years old when 'La Marcha Verde', the Moroccan invasion of the Western Sahara
took place. She didn't see any of the Moroccan militia who crossed into the territory. "Curiously
enough it wasn't till arrived in Barcelona two years ago that I actually saw Moroccans for the first
time." Driven further into the desert, Mariem and her family embarked on a trip for which there
would be no return. Mariem's two brothers both enlisted in the Spanish army; they owned a car,
and managed to drive their families to the enclave of Mjeriz, next to Tifariti. From there Mariem
and her cl0se relatives proceeded on foot to a place called Hamada, in a remote stretch of the
Algerian desert and then finally settled in a camp which they called Smara, named after their
hometown in the Western Sahara. Smara is the place where Mariem gave birth to five children
and where she has spent most of her life.
Mariem's Spanish is very elementary. Learning the language wasn't a priority during her first few
years in exile, and when she arrived in Barcelona almost two years ago, she spoke nothing but
her Arabic dialect. This changed with the next generation, in the 1990’s, when a considerable
number of young Saharawis were sponsored to study abroad, mainly in places such as Cuba and
Spain.
Mariem's life story is one of survival: "I have been in exile for 30 years. I was 17 when I left the
Saharawi and flew to Algeria and we have been refugees ever since. We live in cloth tents and
when it rains the water gets in the tent and wets the mats and everything. When it's cold, it's
really cold. We cook dry food: lentils, beans and things like that because they last longer ... we
survive through the help of European associations." More than 200,000 Saharawis have now
become political refugees as a result of the initial Marcha Verde of 1975 and they are almost
entirely dependent on a precarious flow of aid, while tens of thousands more live under
Moroccan rule. Their culture is deliberately oppressed as part of a policy to 'Moroccanise' the
territory. A division now reinforced by a 2,500 km long wall built by Morocco to defend its
territory.
The Saharawi people have experienced extreme turmoil and change in the course of their long
and continuing quest for independence. In the early stages of exile, most of the men were
fighting in the Polisario army, and thus the Saharawi women succeeded in rebuilding their lives
in the encampments almost singlehandedly. "We all suffer a lot, every day ... especially the
women, since the men are off fighting the war. We are mothers and we end up doing everything:
work, taking care of the children, taking them to school, managing a daycare centre ... I am a
nurse as well as a musician - I can hardly cope. But with the help of my sisters who sometimes
take care of my children, I do get there in the end."
Their achievements and contributions, as well as their political involvement, have been
overwhelming. So much so that the equality of Saharawi women has been stated in their
constitution (adopted in 1976), to ensure their rights and freedom will not be lost on their return
to the Western Sahara. Another vital force in the reconstruction of Saharawi life and identity has,
right from the start, been the arts, which are seen as crucial for introducing new political and
social realities such as the abolition of tribalism, illiteracy and inequality between men and
women. Music and poetry are the means of expression for such new aspirations and have, over
the years, become weapons of both resistance and change in the face of oppression.
It was in this political climate that Mariem embarked on her music career. Her first professional
appearances were with the group El Hafed, later renamed El Uali, after the founder and first
secretary of the Frente Polisario, El Uali. "I never studied music. I still don't know how to play
guitar or tidinit or the ardin, but I know how to sing, and this I learned by practising with bands.
I started by tapping the waterpot (garafa) with the group, then the drum, and then I learnt how
to sing with the accompaniment of keyboards and tidinit." During the 1970’s, Mariem toured a
number of countries in Europe with El Uali, and ended up taking part in cultural events that
were highly political, which resulted in frequent boycotts of her music by Moroccan activists.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, a young student called Manuel Dominguez had been following the news
reports and had heard about the Saharawi struggle. Manuel: "During Franco's dictatorship, I was
studying architecture and we were marching for democracy. Also around that time, Franco had
handed over his colony of the Western Sahara to Morocco and we heard about the Polisario and
their fight for independence. At the time I owned a record label called Guimbarda, which was a
folk label, and while I was participating in those demonstrations, a friend of mine gave me this
CD made by the Polisario. He asked me whether I could release it on my label. The Saharawi had
recorded it themselves in a studio in Barcelona without knowing who could possibly release it in
Spain. Mohammed Tammy, the Minister of Culture at that time, had produced the album. And
although this music wasn't my usual folk music, I decided, mainly because of political reasons, to
help them. We called it Polisario Vencerá and it was a very political CD. Then, I said, if you have
something more traditional let me know. That was in 1982. In 1997, 15 years later, they got in
touch and invited me to the camps, to a festival of traditional music."
Manuel set off for the Western Sahara and embarked on a trip to the annual festival in Auserd.
"Each festival starts off with a poetic event, followed by a dance and a music performance. On
the social scale, poets are much more important than musicians. A musician is considered a poet
who didn't make it, so every night the concert started with a poem, performed live and
improvised on the spot by the best poet of the wilaya. In all I saw four groups, every night a
different one, and I spoke to the Minister of Culture for the Saharawi and asked him whether I
could record them, as it was quite unique to find them all gathered in one place. Normally, they
would be scattered across the desert. He agreed, so in February 1998 we went back with four
producers and an 8-track recording deck, and recorded all of the camps during a period of two
weeks. Mariem sang five songs on that one."
How did he manage? Manuel: "It wasn't easy. You needed generators for light, and if a smith
started working in the evening and used some extra electricity, our supply would drop in the
middle of a recording, etc. But at least we managed to record 40 songs.”
With the referendum for self-determination set by the UN for December 1991, Manuel decided
the time was right to start bringing Saharawi music to the West. With his new label Nubenegra
he decided to dedicate himself fully to the cause of the Saharawi musicians. In order to bring
their music to Europe, Manuel had to put together a group that he could tour. He founded a
band called Leyoad which consisted of two electric guitarists, three women percussionists on the
t'bal drum with Mariem and two more women on vocals.
"I had already met Mariem at the first festival I attended," Manuel explains, "and she had always
sung with two other women: Teita and Hadeidoum. They all came from Smara and sang in the
same style, a more Mediterranean style of singing, as opposed to the very dark and very
traditional style from the south. Mariem, seemed more determined than the others and although
she didn't have the confidence yet to pull it off on her own, her voice struck me as really
powerful." Leyoad's first European tour started in the summer of 1998, and amongst their many
songs, one stood out in particular: Mariem's Canción de la Intifada, which has now become
somewhat of an anthem for the Polisario Front.
The tour was a success and Manuel released four years later a CD called Mariem Hassan con
Leyoad, which contained twelve songs in total than seven sung by her. Manuel: "We were
working on building up a solo career for Mariem, so we decided to call it Mariem Hassan &
Leyoad." Soon after, tensions within the group came to ahead, and Nayim Alal, guitarist and
singer of Leyoad from the beginning, ended up leaving the band and recording his own CD Nar
(Fire) in Nubenegra. "Leyoad was an artificial group, made up of musicians who could be
managed from a practical point of view, but were not linked by blood or mutual understanding."
The group disintegrated, but left behind a small yet considerable legacy that was destined to
grow: a place and name for Saharawi music on the international music circuit.
It wasn't till Manuel encountered guitarist Baba Salama that a solo album became a possibility.
Manuel: "Baba Salama was the opposite of Nayim - a very generous musician with none of that
egocentrism I had experienced with Nayim. I waited until 2004 when we decided to record the
album with Mariem." Deseos was recorded in two days only. Yet the actual release of the album
was put on hold as Mariem was diagnosed with breast cancer just several months after the
recording. She has now recovered, she assures me with relief, and pulls off her deep purple
headscarf to reveal a short crop of hair. "I was lucky, I feel so protected ... and more determined
to sing for my people now that I have been through all this." Sadly, Baba Salama, Mariem's
guitarist, was also diagnosed with cancer and died in August 2005
The title of Mariem's album, Deseos, means desire in Spanish. It is a very personal album this
time, with the musical direction and guitar playing of the late Baba Salama, as well as her
brother Boika on guitar and the rhythmical pulse of percussionist Fatta. I ask Mariem about the
title: "Originally it was all about my cancer, and my desire to be cured of it. It was the making of
the album that pulled me through. But it has a bigger meaning too: Deseos also refers to the
desire of the Saharawi to return to their land, of course, and to obtain their independence. I had
three brothers who died in the war. When I sing it, I think about the times when we lived
together in the Sahara. And in retrospect about Baba, and how much I wished he was still here."
Can music make a difference? "No. Music doesn't make a difference. But to live you need a lot of
things. You need water and air, and nobody can live without music. Music teaches you a lot.
When children listen to music they learn things about the past, or how to animate people, and
give them hope. During all these years, the songs have always spoken about the war: the martyrs,
the children who lost their fathers in the war, the women, the refugees, their suffering, the
people who live in the occupied territories. They haven't changed anything for us really, but they
have given us hope and it is thanks to our music that we are alive today."
The music of the Saharawi draws on one tradition in particular: the haul tradition, a complex
modal system derived from Arabic music theory, yet heavily imbued with Moorish culture. It is a
tradition unique to this part of the desert and as such, a rare cultural legacy somewhere between
Arabic and African cultures. The accompaniment to Mariem's songs shares the distinctively
vibrant rebel feel of the music of neighbouring Tuareg rebels, Tinariwen: gentle rocking rhythms,
gnarling amped-up guitar lines, ululations, call and response vocals and, in concert, a swirling
fluid dance of arms and shoulders.
Mariem sings in Hassaniya - an Arabic dialect. Although more traditional sounding, her singing
has that same fiery yet very subtle and fluid quality of Mauritanian star Malouma, whom Mariem
admires. In fact the music of the Saharawi people is more Mauritanian than Moroccan sounding,
and in contrast to Mauritanian music, Saharawi musicians don't belong to a caste. Many of
Mariem's family are singers and she thus grew up in a very musical tent. Her aunt Zaina is well
known as both a singer and dancer, her uncle Bushad as a poet, and her mother used to sing at
birthday celebrations, weddings and during Ramadan.
Hélène Rammant
NUBENEGRA Magdalena 1, Madrid 28012, SPAIN tel 34 913601620
[email protected] www.nubenegra.com