Pré-corona Concert review

Best (pré-corona) concert 2019 in Mixed World Music: Samira's Blues

"I was already very charmed by the EP Ya Baba with the beautiful combination of Samira Dainan's relaxed voice and a subtly effective band (percussion and bass around that voice and the guitar of Bas Gaakeer). But to experience them live in the intimate ambiance of this extremely sympathetic music café Mezrab on Amsterdam's Javakade was a special experience. The music lines run from the Moroccan side of the Sahara to the Malian shore on the other side. A fifty-day walk, the sign says in Hamid el Ghizlane, the last village before the desert begins, and the home of the Festival Taragalte every year. Samira's Blues travels the same distance in a few minutes: from subdued dreamy parts to outright desert guitar, which have caused a furore as far as Niger - thanks to YouTube. And also include a hundred percent real Moroccan classic in the repertoire, to the great pleasure of the public that had defied the Dutch water cold to come. Never regretted it for a second - quite the contrary. Just as much fun as attending a concert is interviewing the two pacesetters of the band. Soon to be listened back on Music Time in Africa by the Voice of America."

Bram Posthumus October 2019