Noura Mint Seymali to Perform in Brooklyn, 9/26; Harlem, 9/27

From the Saharan capital of Nouakchott, Mauritania, Noura Mint Seymali embarks on a debut tour of the United States in September 2013, transporting sounds from the desert tents and urban courtyards where Moorish music lives to the American concert hall. Noura Mint Seymali, lead vocalist, and her husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly, guitarist, hail from two of Mauritania's most prominent Moorish griot families, the storied class of musician-historians in West Africa. Located at the convergence of North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Mauritania bridges the cultural divide between the Arab world and Francophone West Africa, a convergence revealed most tellingly in the music of the griot.

Since starting out as a backing vocalist with her step-mother, the legendary Dimi Mint Abba, Noura has become a key figure in Mauritania with a devoted young following. Joining forces with Jeiche, one of Nouakchott's top guitarists, the husband and wife duo has pioneered a new path for Moorish music, modernizing the repertoire of the griot to encompass timely subjects like gender in Islamic society, desertification, and terrorism in the Sahel, while respecting the music's instrumental core and tradition of praise and historical folk narratives.

With the upcoming release of Azawan II, Noura Mint Seymali recasts all the rawness of Moorish griot music from a contemporary pop perspective. "Azawan," in Hassaniya refers to the live ensemble of instruments/musicians used in traditional context - the soundsystem of the tents. Backed by bassist Ousmane Touré and drummer Matthew Tinari for this first US tour, Noura Mint Seymali will present music from Azawan II with an agile formation allowing her rich, transcendant voice to soar.

On stages as far flung as Festival-au-Desert (Mali), World Expo 2012 (Korea), Hayy Festival (Egypt), Pirineos (Spain), and via collaborations with African music greats like Baba Maal, Tinariwen, and Bassekou Kouyaté, Noura Mint Seymali has marked her arrival as one of the next generation's most promising artists and an unforgettable voice of Africa. Don't miss the opportunity to catch the American debut of an artist sure to blow minds and put Mauritania on the map.

CONCERT START TIME:	8:00 pm
VENUE:	Issue Project Room
VENUE ST. ADDRESS:	22 Boerum Place
VENUE CITY, STATE:	Brooklyn, NY
VENUE LINK:	Click here