15 September 2008
DAMASCUS: Mauritanian vocalist, composer and instrumentalist, Malouma Bint al-Meedah, performed her first Syrian concert on Saturday evening. After enduring a decade-long performance ban in her own country, her rapturous reception at Old Damascus' Azm Palace was particularly sweet. Malouma is renowned throughout the Arab world for the revival of Mauritanian folk music. She sings in both colloquial and standard Arabic to the accompaniment of electric guitars, keyboards and African drums, blending traditional Arab, Berber and African rhythms with jazz, blues and electronic music.
Her Azm Palace performance is one of dozens of special events in Damascus this year, which UNESCO was named the Arab Capital of Culture for 2008.
The vocalist's fame first spread beyond Mauritania after she participated in Tunisia's Carthage Music Festival in 1988 and subsequently appeared on Arab satellite channels. Based upon her reception at the Azm Palace on Saturday night, her reputation is firmly ensconced in Syria as well.
Seats were hard to come by for anyone arriving a couple of minutes before the show was scheduled to start. The organizers struggled to fill every inch of the courtyard with plastic chairs as people continued to flow from the entrance.
When Malouma took the stage, wearing traditional Berber garb, her audience greeted her with vibrant enthusiasm. She started her concert with the desert folk music and Afro-pop tunes that characterize her style.
The vocalist received cheers of approval when, during her introduction a couple of songs later, she expressed delight at performing in Damascus - "the mother of Arab culture and the land of resistance" as she called it. "Inshallah, the next concert will be held in the Golan!"
Malouma's modernization of her country's traditional music has won her throngs of fans but fierce opposition as well. Early in her career, she was criticized for destroying the traditional music of Mauritania when she experimented with new chords and, more controversially, with new topics for her lyrics.
Instead of the traditional practice of rehearsing songs in praise of the tribe, Malouma chose to incorporate themes such as national unity, gender inequality, oppression and love. Malouma's tribe subsequently ostracized her family. Critics have repeatedly attacked her instruments and she has herself received death threats.
An outspoken critic of Mauritania's military government, Malouma made powerful political enemies with the 1992 release of her song "Habib al-Shaab" ("Beloved of the People"), a paean to independent presidential candidate Ahmed Ould Daddah.
Malouma's public support for reconciliation between Mauritania's long-divided black and Arab communities did not improve her standing with the regime, and later that year she was banned from performing and recording her music in Mauritania.
Malouma's fans and prominent intellectuals came out in strong support of their "diva of the desert" and formed the "Friends of Malouma" club.
In 2003, several thousand people protested against the state ban, marching to the slogan "Free Malouma."
The political climate for Malouma warmed after the protests, when a government official apologized to her. In 2007, Malouma became the first woman to enter the Mauritanian Parliament, making her "one of the most important female Arab personalities of our time," the event program reads.
The Syrian public's excitement over the opportunity to experience this remarkable artist's Arab-African music live was unmistakable. The audience frequently clapped along to her songs. Ninety minutes into the show, when she performed one of her most famous hits "Habibi Habeytou" ("My beloved, I loved him"), some of the younger audience members started to dance.
The Mauritanian dance performed by her two female accompanists was also greatly appreciated. Following the final song, Malouma very content audience gave her and her ensemble standing ovations.
Copyright The Daily Star 2008.
