World Music Institute Continues DESERT SERIES With Noura Mint Seymali, 2/24

Noura Mint Seymali is one of Mauritania's foremost musical emissaries and a national star of the West African country. Born into a lineage of significant moorish griots, a class of traveling poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history in parts of Africa, Noura's career began at age 13 as a supporting vocalist to her legendary step-mother Dimi Mint Abba. Her grandmother trained her in musical technique and Noura mastered the ardine, a traditional 9-string harp reserved for women. Having performed on stages across the world, and by collaborating with African music greats, Noura Mint Seymali has established herself as one of the next generation's most promising artists and an unforgettable voice of Africa.

"Noura Mint Seymali's new album, Arbina, is one of the best albums of the year.
Not one of the best 'world music' albums...but one of the best albums."
- Noisey, Vice's Music Channel

Arbina is Noura Mint Seymali's second international release. Delving deeper into the wellspring of Moorish roots, as is the tried and true way of the griot, the album strengthens her core sound, applying a cohesive aesthetic approach to the reinterpretation of Moorish tradition in contemporary context. The band is comprised of soaring vocals and guitar, the mesmerizing sparkle of the ardine, elemental bass lines and propulsive rhythms. Arbina refines a sound that the band has gradually intensified over years of touring, aiming to posit a new genre from Mauritania, distinct unto itself; music of the "Azawan."

dj.henri from radioafricaonline.com will spin music before the concert. For many years, dj.henri has been spinning an African and Caribbean groove at SOB's, (le) poisson rouge, City Winery, Symphony Space, the Bell House, and other NYC clubs - opening for acts such as Salif Keita, Ebenezer Obey, Antibalas, Diblo Dibala, Aster Aweke, Tinariwen, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Vieux Farka Touré, and Natacha Atlas. dj.henri's radio station Radio Africa Online (http://radioafricaonline.com) is the longest-running station playing African and Caribbean music online. His hugely popular Radio Africa Online Mixes are also featured in the iTunes Store and elsewhere, generating 100 Terabytes of traffic annually.

(Photo Credit: Noura Mint Seymali's NA SANE)