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“Seymali has forged a desert blues that is built for an urban environment – harsh, noisy and hard-hitting… her lyrics may have grown out of the rich poetry tradition of Moorish culture but the rhythms are designed for dancing.” — Mojo

Noura Mint Seymali’s 3rd album Yenbett (her first since 2016) is a stunning explosion of contemporary Mauritanian griot music, and once again confirms her status as one of the world’s most potent voices.

Co-produced by Matthew Tinari (Noura’s drummer) and Mikey Coltun (Mdou Moctar) the new album’s approach is both raw and experimental; capturing the band’s powerful in situ performances with taught clarity and adventuresome sonics.

Reflecting her influence, and the acclaim that she’s accumulated throughout her career, Seymali was recently honoured with the 2025 WOMEX Artist of the Year Award.

A voice, timeless as the desert, swirls up like the sirocco, drenched in cavernous reverberation, accompanied by the solitary, meditative swells of the ardine, an acoustic harp that dials in the fundamental frequency of Noura Mint Seymali’s music. A brief pause, and the same refrain returns, this time picked out on a heavily flanged electric guitar, grounded by thunderous drums and growling electric bass. And there’s that voice again – direct and urgent, careening off into wild ululations and refracted echo.

That’s the opening two tracks on Yenbett, the brand-new album by Mauritanian force of nature, Noura Mint Seymali. In just under four and a half minutes, these two versions of the song “Lehjibb” set the tone for what’s to come – a trance-inducing and ferociously evocative blend of ancient Northwest African musical tradition and searing, electrified Saharan future rock.

Noura Mint Seymali is a living embodiment of musical tradition. She hails fro.......
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