Rasha's music not only displays the link between the two most significant movements in the music of Sudan, the Nubian musical tradition of the Islamic influenced north and the black African influence of the south. Rasha's repertoire includes elements of popular styles like reggae or relaxed Afro-Cuban rhythms (one catchy earwig is Azara Al Hay) as well as authentic Sudanese wedding songs and lullabies or even Sufi meditations usually sung by men only.
27 year old, Rasha's immense knowledge of her country's rich cultural inheritance and her obvious talent as composer and bandleader turns Sudaniyat into the most magnetising and diversified image of the musical scope the Sudan has to offer to an open-minded audience. Predominantly defined by means of Oud and percussion, partially backed up by guitar and bass or even accompanied by the full force of a Sudanese big band with accordion, violins and saxophone's, the 10 tracks on this album carry the listener away on a magical mystery tour through a colourful scintillating bazaar of exotic and fascinating sensations.
La sal de la vida, three singers- Uxía, María Salgado and Rasha, seek to celebrate the possibility of grouping together very different ways of coming close to singing and celebrate mutual understanding and the complicity of musicians and performers as intrinsic forms of popular expression.
Thus, la sal de la vida is a vital chant to diversity: Sudanese singer Rasha, who also plays derbuka, ponderosa and maracas on this CD, brings some Arabian spice. Her first CD entitled Sudaniyat is absolutely gorgeous, wrote folk roots.
Uxía is the foremost female singer from Galicia. Both have hit Top Ten positions in the European World Music charts with their respective releases on Intuition Nubenegra.
Castilian María Salgado shows a natural inclination for two way chants, guajiras, peteneras and habaneras especially, as well as for boleros and fados.
The flamenco guitar of Xesús Pimentel from Galicia serves as an integrating element.
The material performed by the female trio and Pimentel includes mainly traditionals, some of them dating back to the 13th century.
The moment that sax blows you know you are in for a treat, and when you hear Rasha's silky voice (Billie Holiday's vulnerable delicacy wih Cassandra Wilson's soulful warmth) you want to hear it again and again. Rasha a young Sudanese woman who lives in Spain, captivated international audiences with her 1998 debut, Sudaniyat, in which her gorgeous voice graced an artful blend of traditional Sudanese music, jazz and reggae.
Ed Ashcroft
Stern's
Divine love can sound like a private rendezvous on Sudaniyat, the debut album by Rasha, a singer from Sudan. She has a gentle, supple, somber voice, with touches of smoke and silk. On Sudaniyat she gives it plenty of room, often singing with the minimal counterpoint of an oud, a drumbeat, or perhaps a saxophone; she sings one lullaby unaccompanied. Rasha draws on traditional songs, with their awe-struck poetry translated in the liner notes; they address earthly lovers and Allah's messengers. Most of them are influenced by Arabic and North African music, with Rasha's voice answered by oud and violin; she also tries understated hybrids with reggae and bossa nova. In every setting, she radiates a thoughtful tenderness.
John Pareles
New York Times
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