FADELA & SAHRAWI

WALLI

  1/  Bab Wahran (Door To Oran)                  (Fadela,Sahrawi)              3.55
  2/  Walli                                      (Fadela,Sahrawi)              4.44
  3/  Dellali (My Lover)                         (Fadela,Sahrawi)              5.17
  4/  Dance the Rai                              (Fadela,Sahrawi)              7.34
  5/  Dawh (They Took Him Away)                  (Fadela,Sahrawi)              4.15
  6/  Hasni                                      (Fadela,Sahrawi)              4.30
  7/  Wayala                                     (Fadela,Sahrawi)              4.45
  8/  Mani                                       (Fadela,Sahrawi)              4.04
  9/  Dougih (Pound It)                          (Fadela,Sahrawi)              3.31
  10/ Waadi (Just My Luck)                       (Fadela,Sahrawi)              4.00
  11/ N'sel Fik (You Are All Mine)               (Fadela,Sahrawi)              4.33

          Recorded at Harry Son Studio, Paris, France and Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn,
            New York
          Produced by Bill Laswell and Maghni for Gafaiti Productions
          Engineering at Greenpoint: Robert Musso
          Mastered, edited and engineered for US production by Randy Djamal Ghanim-
            Barnwell at Sahara Sound Studios, Boston, Massachusetts
          Remastered by James Dellatacoma at Orange Music, West Orange, NJ
Fadela & Sahrawi: voices; Bill Laswell: bass, sounds; Maghni: keyboards; other instruments played by un-credited musicians.

          1997 - Rounder (USA), CD 5076 (CD)
          2022 - Bill Laswell Bandcamp (Bassmatter Subscription Exclusive)

REVIEWS :

In the liner notes to Walli, Hasni's good friends Fadela & Sahrawi say the future of rai is in the West--and ironically, nowhere is this more evident than on their tribute to Hasni. Lyrically, "Hasni" poignantly expresses the helpless rage that pervades the country (in translation, "Everyone heard it all from A to Z / My brother Hasni died / And hope died with him"), but as heard on the new Bill Laswell-produced album, the duo are more forward-looking than Hasni was. Their passionate vocals are backed by a crack live band, an improvement over Hasni's tinny synths, and songs like "Dance the Rai" and "Dellali (My Lover)" convey a strong Western pop sensibility. It wouldn't be surprising to hear Madonna singing the fluffy melodies, but the hard Arabic inflection nicely offsets the slick production. "Wayala" borrows the hypnotic percussion of Morocco's Gnawa musicians, beautifully anchoring the fleeting contemporary sound with an ancient tradition. The most daring production, however, is on "Hasni." Spare hip-hop breakbeats, discombobulating backward tape smears, ominous French rapping, distant-sounding muezzin chants, incongruous sweeps of strings, distended organ swells,

Peter Margasak (courtesy of the Chicago Reader website)