Funeral for Justice

Mdou Moctar

Released on 5/3/24 by Matador
Main artists: Mdou Moctar
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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With his seventh album, and fourth recorded in studios outside of Niger, Funeral for Justice, Tuareg guitarist and singer Mdou Moctar brings another powerful set of his electrified and often high-energy desert blues. Moctar first reached international audiences when a song from his locally-released Anar, with overtly auto-tuned vocals, appeared on the 2011 compilation Music from Saharan Cellphones. Moctar explored a few creative directions before landing in a more focused and consistent style. Looking back, it may feel surprising that on his first recordings in a U.S. studio, 2017's Sousoume Tamachek, Moctar plays only acoustic guitar and the songs are consistently more restrained than his now-signature explosiveness.

With 2019's Ilana (The Creator), Moctar refined his creative focus to define his now-recognizable style. Recording in the U.S. with an amplified band, and adding American bassist Michael Coltun to his previously all-Nigerien group, Ilana (The Creator) more overtly references Western rock, especially the genre-crossing late-'60s and early-'70s albums by American artists like Santana, Sly Stone, and Jimi Hendrix. Moctar's desert blues roots merge into a cross-cultural blend with overdriven electric guitars pushed to the foreground and an exuberance sometimes infused with a dark undercurrent.

After the consistently-festive Afrique Victime (2021), Funeral for Justice returns to the foreboding that seeped into his earlier world. The title hints at how this darker energy ties to the fragile politics in Niger, including a recent coup that happened while Moctar toured the U.S. While most American and European listeners are unlikely to understand his lyrics in Tamachek, the New York Times quoted some of Moctar's views from a press conference. He explained, for example, that "only our raw resources that are extracted from the ground are free, but our currency, which was created by others for us, is not welcome." This passion especially permeates Funeral for Justice's most aggressive tracks, from the opening title cut and "Sousoume Tamacheq." While Moctar's lyrics might not be understandable, the passion in his and the group's underlying instrumentals manifest as a visceral force that transcends language. © Steve Silverstein/Qobuz

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Funeral for Justice

Mdou Moctar

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Funeral for Justice