Moorish griot
Nouakchott, Mauritania
Photo: Jacob Crawfurd
A nationally beloved star in Mauritania, Noura Mint Seymali is among her country’s most innovative artists, pushing her centuries-old music tradition into thrilling new territory. Representing a rich, transitive music culture where sounds from across the Sahara and West Africa have coalesced for generations, Noura’s hypnotic vocal stylings pierce through a pulsating wall of psychedelic electric guitar, bass, and drums, creating an otherworldly sound that is at once ancient and futuristic. Fronting an ensemble comprised of some of the most highly respected musicians in Mauritania, Noura is boldly leading her country’s griot tradition into the 21st century and beyond.
The music of Mauritania is associated predominantly with the country’s largest ethnic group, the Moors. Moorish griots, called iggawin, are born into a caste that traditionally have served as musicians, historians, and musical messengers. Their music practice, called azawan, is centered on a wellspring of classical Moorish poetry, from which lines are delivered by a singer accompanied by three instruments: the ardin, a women’s harp with 11 or 14 strings; the tidnit, a 4-stringed lute played by men; and the tbal, a type of kettledrum. Mauritania’s most locally beloved and globally recognized iggawin singer was Noura’s stepmother, Dimi Mint Abba, known as the “Diva of the Desert.” Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall, Noura’s father, was also a seminal figure in Mauritanian music, devising the first system for Moorish melodic notation and composing many works popularized by Dimi and other singers. He also studied music in Iraq and viewed Mauritanian tradition through an international lens, with an affinity for innovation.
Noura inherited not only the iggawin tradition from her parents but also their passion for innovating within it. Raised in the city of Nouakchott, her earliest musical education was singing with family members at home and at weddings, later training with her maternal grandmother in ardin and vocal technique. Noura’s husband Jeich Ould Chighaly—also iggawin—is a master of the tidnit, and a visionary innovator. The two performed together for years as a duo in the local traditional wedding circuit before Jeich began adapting the tidnit’s intricate phrasing to a modified electric guitar. The pair released two albums in their experimental style entitled Tarabe and El Howl in 2006 and 2010, respectively. Soon thereafter, they joined forces with veteran bassist Ousmane Touré, a longtime collaborator with Noura’s family and widely recognized as the top bassist in the country, as well as Matthew Tinari, a drummer originally from Philadelphia who translated the traditional percussion of the tbal to the drum set. After releasing two experimental EPs with this quartet, entitled Azawan and Azawan II, Noura released her first full-length album for the international market, Tzenni in 2014—earning her the title “Best Female Artist in North Africa” at the African Union’s All Africa Music Awards that same year. Arbina, her most recent record, was released in 2016 to even broader international acclaim.
With her powerhouse band, six records to her name, and a full schedule of performances at prestigious venues and festivals worldwide, Noura has become an ambassador of Mauritanian music for a global audience. Merging her birthright as a griot with her thirst for exploration, her music is a powerful bridge connecting Mauritania’s past to its future.