WOMAD

Maryam Mursal

From Somalia

Maryam Mursal's epic album 'The Journey' is a true match of form and content. Its wide musical sweep – encompassing traditional Somali songs, bold string arrangements and sizzling percussion work – is a fitting companion to the singer's own story.Mursal was one of Somalia's leading singers before the years of dictatorship and civil war that scarred the country in the eighties. Virtually silenced by the country's rulers, she had to flee with her five children, travelling sometimes on foot or by donkey, at other times hitching rides in trucks. This seven-month journey from Mogadishu through the East African desert is chronicled in her song 'Qax' ("refugee"), which appears on the album, released by WOMAD’s sister label Real World Records.She eventually settled in Denmark, where musician Søren Kjær Jensen began working with her, and four years ago she made her first British appearance at WOMAD's Morecambe Bay festival. Her voice – rich, powerful and hugely emotive – made an immediate impact. Maryam then began to work with a group of Somali musicians, all former members of the country's national theatre who were now refugees in Denmark, under the name of Waaberi. The name means "new dawn", and it symbolises the musicians' own spiritual rebirth after their traumatic journeys and their hope for a new dawn in their country. Waaberi recorded an albumfor Real World last year. It's an earthy album with standout oud (Arabic lute) playing by Salah Qasim driving the songs along underneath Mursal's voice.'The Journey', produced by Simon Emmerson (Afro Celt Sound System, Baaba Maal, Tarika), has already been acclaimed as one of the world music albums of 1998. Its modern production and intelligent marriage of African and Western instruments is a revelation – but it is Mursal's voice that holds the attention throughout.