Articles by Clyde Macfarlane

Source: New Internationalist

Clyde Macfarlane catches up with Aziza Brahim as she releases her third album, Abbar el Hamada.

Photo: Western Saharan singer and refugee Aziza Brahim by Guillem Moreno

Anyone who has traced a finger down the coast of Morocco to stumble across the ambiguous, grey-shaded territory of Western Sahara will be surprised to discover that this is far from a barren no-man’s-land; small desert towns dot the main highway all the way down to Mauritania. Hardly restricted to these pockets of civilization, the Saharawi people have lived a nomadic life across the region for hundreds of years. A 1976 invasion by Morocco and Mauritania made the majority of Saharawis refugees, an identity which the singer, tabal drummer and activist Aziza Brahim sees as integral to her music. read more