AZIZA BRAHIM - Sahari - LP

The acclaimed Saharawi singer-songwriter and activist Aziza Brahim, returns for her third Glitterbeat album. Produced in Barcelona by Aziza with Amparo Sánchez (Amparanoia, Calexico), “Sahari” is her most adventuresome and sublime work to date.

The music Aziza Brahim makes reflects both the sorrow and the hope of these people. She grew up in one of those camps in the Algerian desert, along with thousands of other Saharawi who were removed from their homes in Western Sahara. The refugee camp was the place that formed her. It lives in her every heartbeat. Her grandmother was a famous Saharawi poet, her mother well-known as a vocalist, and they passed their strength and fearlessness to her. Now, as one of North African most lauded singers, Brahim uses her position to make the plight of her people known – and of the refugees across the world who have no choice but to exist in the camps. Sahari is for them as much as it’s for her own family. “My purpose is to denounce the extreme living conditions there and the great injustice that prevents Saharawi refugees from returning to their home,” Brahim says. “I try to capture the feeling of longing that my elders express for the land that was taken away and for their past life in their country. But I know it’s not just us; there are currently 70 million people forcibly displaced in the world. 26 million of them are refugees.”The political remains intensely personal for Brahim. She lives in exile, in Spain, and the music for Sahari was written there.  And while her songs remain grounded in her homeland, her gaze is increasingly global. To achieve that, Brahim worked with the acclaimed Spanish artist Amparo Sánchez of the band Amparanoia on the album’s pre-production, and the collaboration has made a transformative impact on the music.