Etran Finatawa
World Music Rec. Etran Finatawa : Introducing (NI,2006)***°
Etran Finatawa is the unique musical blend or combination of the ideas/foundations coming from two different ethnic nomad groups. The band consists of six Wodaabe and four Touareg. The Wodaabe Fulani are known for their festival beauty contest where dressed up men dance for days, and while showing their white teeth and rolling eyes, some of them are chosen by the women to marry. They bring a new complexity to the more repetitive Touareg music under the form of complex poly-rhythms, new vocal harmonies, high tenor lead singing with some melodic variation. This makes the details in the basic musical foundation more interesting to listen. On “A Dunya” the guitar style is played as if being played by some ethnic instrument. “Iledeman” is the most rewarding pick-out, a very attractive sing-along song with reggae-like rhythm, a nice emotionally responding rocking electric guitar, and poetry-like lead singing where the language gets an extra attractive sound-base factor, a real winner. Some songs clearly have a bit more Woodaabe influence, especially when they lead the vocals. Also “Ekenan” has longer guitar solos. Although this album is called introduction to, it is already the third recording. It was given as an extra bonus album to the Rough Guide Desert Blues compilation of Nomad bands.
Riverboat Rec. Etran Finatawa : Tarkat Tajje / Let's Go! (NI,2010)***
On this new album, which I experienced as being rather short, the band seems to have derived their musical style back to the minimum, which are the monotone head-spinning Touareg songs with hand claps, a lead electrified guitar repeating the song melody lines and simple acoustic strummed accompaniments. The rhythms are steady and have a certain, convincing hypnotic effect. There’s some attention to longer spaces for the lead guitar. The music is still convincing but there are no real surprises of inspiration. Something of the creative surprise, of the complexity in rhythms has disappeared so that the music returned to a habitual sort of inspiration.
