Named after the Hassaniya word for ‘your voice’, Soutak is the new album from Aziza Brahim, a musician born and raised in the refugee camps of the Western Sahara. The conflict visited upon the territory, which Morocco invaded and occupied in 1975, is not major news in the rich world these days – all the more reason for works like Soutak.
Brahim, who left the camps to study in Cuba and now resides in Spain, is a powerful voice not only for the Sahrawi cause but also for her people’s traditional music. The latter is fused here with Spanish and Malian tinges, her small band including Malian guitarist Kalilou Sanagare.
