Mesk Elil

Description

EDITORIAL REVIEWS Souad Massi's melodies-at once exotic and familiar-are influenced by shaabi music, French chanson, flamenco, 1960s American folk, and a variety of African musical traditions. Accessible and engaging, her delicate guitar playing is the perfect accompaniment to her beautiful lyric. "Mesk Elil" the highly anticipated 3rd album follows on from 2004's "Deb". AMAZON.COM For her third album, which was a strong presence on the European world music charts throughout late 2005, the Algerian-born, Paris-based singer-songwriter has chosen to operate on a much larger scale. Mauritanian vocalist Daby Touré (a star in the making if there ever was one), Pascal Danaë, a French-born musician of Caribbean ancestry and the versatile Mino Cinelu on percussion are only a few of the capable artists appearing on the recording. The tunes are a mixed bag, jazzy, sophisticated yet for the most part true to their sources; clearly Massi is trying her wings as a composer. Ilhem ("Inspiration") a percussive gem fronted by chiming plucked strings, is infectiously extroverted and packs a strong West African/Touareg flavor, while Khalouni ("Let Me"), a North African-Iberian confection sung with a wonderful male singer named Rabah Kaifa, gets the blood moving. But the title track, with its limp Brazilian-inspired melody and MOR-like string arrangements, is less effective. Ultimately, although Massi's former one-on-one, almost perilously intimate rapport with the listener seems somewhat refracted these days, her message is as timely as ever. Her sensuous alto voice remains swooningly flexible yet serenely unadulterated, a miracle of confident, sensitive femininity. --Christina Roden REVIEW "A Beautiful Voice." -- New York Times "Clearly something special!" -- Chicago Reader "Massi's success has been one of world music's most riveting stories." -- San Francisco Chronicle See more