Earlier this year I wrote in detail about the live release Blue Stage Session by Nigerien desert blues guitarist Mdou Moctar, and now he is back with another full-length record – Ilana the Creator – a contemporary blues masterpiece. For Ilana the Creator, Moctar delivers a high energy blues album that combines Saharan music’s trance-like electric guitar rhythms, frenetic hooks, and waves of infectious melodies with contemporary elements that at times draw comparisons to Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Prince and even Eddie Van Halen. Ilana the Creator came about after a chance meeting with sound engineer Chris Koltay (The Dirtbombs, The Greenhornes) with whom Moctar bonded over the music of ZZ Top (especially the band’s 1973 album Tres Hombres and its own repetitive boogie guitar style), with the two eventually collaborating in a Detroit studio with a live band and made. Standout tracks include: the hypnotic opening track, “Kamane Tarhanin”; the politically-charged title-track “Ilana”; the blistering extended jam and album centerpiece “Tarhatazed”; the upbeat “Wiwasharnine”; the low-key instrumental “Takamba”; and the dreamy closing track, “Tumastin.” Mdou Moctar’s talents are truly genius and I encourage you to seek out his music and see him live if you can, as he puts on an amazing show! – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | Afous d’Afous, Bombino, Etran Finatawa, Terakaft, Tinariwen