YASSINE NANA - Modern Pop From Mauritania (1984-1989)

Can you imagine a fully-fledged Nouvelle Vague film, complete with jump cuts and razor-sharp dialogue, but starring an African lead? If the answer is no, you can spare yourself the effort of imagining it: it already exists, it's called "Soleil Ô", and it was made by Mauritanian director Med Hondo. Shot between 1967 and 1969 and premiered at Cannes the following year, it tells the story of a fellow countryman's difficult integration after landing in Marseille, amid barely-veiled prejudice and situations bordering on the grotesque. Watching it again fifty years on, it all sounds sadly relevant today.

If the protagonist is a mirror of his country, Mauritania proves to be a sui generis land: neither Maghreb nor Sahel, a contradictory history dominated by the figure of Moktar Ould Daddah, the Islamic Republic remains one of the most anomalous states on the continent. The music follows suit: just look at an outsider like Ahmedou Ahmed Lowla, with his cosmic-synthetic reinterpretation of traditional wedding music.

Nouakchott, however, also gave birth to a group as overlooked as it was seminal: Ahl Nana, so aware of their own importance that they renamed themselves "L'Orchestre National Mauritanien" (not to be confused with L'Orchestre National de Mauritanie, more official but no less innovative). The first outfit to plant the electric guitar in the sands of the Sahara, anticipating Ali Farka Touré by at least five years, they paved the way for the glorious tishoumaren saga, which finds a new, forward-looking peak in the latest masterpiece by Tinariwen.

As the name suggests, this was a family-run enterprise: father as bandleader, daughters on backing vocals, elder brother (Ali) on guitar, younger brother (Yassine) as lead singer. The real star of the stable is the latter, whose solo career would leave an indelible mark on the region's pop scene: hear it to believe it on this anthology from the Bongo Joe/Sofa Records joint venture, the seventh installment in the Maghreb K7 Club series.

Coated in a fragrant electronic sheen, singing now in classical Arabic, now in the local hassaniya dialect, his blend of disco-funk, reggae and desert vibrations takes no prisoners. Tracks like "Boustan Al Achar", "Fatma" and "Samraa" are urban-caravan anthems, chanted with tremendous personality by a master of postmodern melisma. Ça va sans dire, the whole family rallies to support him, claiming their own space in the hallucinated psychedelia of "Telephone".

These eight tracks certainly won't be enough to solve the Mauritanian enigma, but if you're after some "modern pop" with an Arabic twist, all you have to do is hit the dance floor.

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06/05/2026