High Tide

Listening Post 362. Like water, music flows; like music, water heals. Souad Massi may not be the first artist to link these two essential life forces, but on her seventh studio album she combines them in spectacular and oracular fashion. Sequana takes its name from the Gallo-Roman goddess of the Seine, with wellsprings believed to have curative powers. In pandemic solitude, the Franco-Algerian singer-songwriter would walk along the riverbank in Paris, where she found comfort and ultimately the inspiration to address the new threat—one that, like the values animating her career, challenged all humanity. Massi’s music has always transcended boundaries, from her chaâbi-folk-chanson-rock foundations to the addition here of Brazilian, Caribbean and Sahel sounds, accompanied by her warm voice in Arabic and French. In Sequana’s 11 tracks (nine self-written) the memory of leaving her homeland in 1999 after her voice earned her death threats is reflected in her dedication to freedom, women’s emancipation and resistance to dictatorships. The ideal and real coexist in Dessine-moi Un Pays (Draw Me a Land, video 1), merging the artist’s own footsteps with those of recent refugees from Afghanistan and Syria. Dib El Raba (Festival of Wolves, video 2) is an anthem of resilience; while the title track zeroes in on the struggle of adolescents today, facing global pressures as they also grapple with their own inner transformation (video 3). Amplifying Massi’s pluralistic message are Une Seule Etoile (A Single Star, video 4), about making the most of the world by sharing it; and L’espoir (Hope), a bossa nova take on surprises tucked between dark shadows. Other highlights are her Arabic rendition of the Nine Inch Nails classic Hurt, and an homage to Victor Jara, the seminal Chilean singer-songwriter-activist murdered by Chile’s military regime in 1973. Nearly 50 years later, Souad Massi plays folk music forward—and in her voice the tide has never been higher. (BackingTrack/Virgin Music LAS/Wrasse Records)

Souad Massi: Sequana
Souad Massi: Vocals
Malik Kerrouche: Acoustic guitar, Spanish guitar
Guy Nsangue: Bass
Adriano Dos Santos: Congas, cajon, shakers, cowbell, surdo
Rabah Khalfa: Darbuka, req, bendir, handclaps
Mokrane Adlani: Violin
Abdenour Djemai: Banjo, mandolin

Guest artists
Piers Faccini: Vocals, steel guitar
Naïssam Jalal: Flute
Pablo Tognan: Cello
Céline Tison: Viola
Alix Catinchi: Violin
Hélène Decoin: Violin
Justin Adams: Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, t’bal, calabash, qarqabas, bendir, shakers
Tim Oliver: Moog
Martyn Barker: Drums

Related posts. Souad Massi: El Mutakallimûn, Listening Post 62, August 29, 2016. https://worldlisteningpost.com/2016/08/29/souad-massi-el-mutakallimun/

Souad Massi: Oumniya, Listening Post 241, February 25, 2020. https://worldlisteningpost.com/2020/02/25/souad-massi-oumniya/

 

Dessine-moi un Pays / Draw Me a Land
Lyrics & music: Souad Massi

(From the Arabic lyrics)
Draw me a home with big windows/So the light can enter my heart
Draw me a bird, a free bird that none may possess

Draw me a path in the depths of a forest/I have seen the beast guiding the herd
While the wolves surround the shepherd/Offering their hollow laughter, taking him in their embrace

I dreamt of you last night
Dressed in my grandfather’s burnous, surrounded by doves
Truth flowed from your lips

Draw me a sea, but not too deep/For many have ventured and drowned
Have risked their lives and left their wounds/Leaving streams of their mothers’ warm tears

Draw me the people dear to my heart/Fallen in the blink of a distracted eye
The evening breeze has taken so many/And a wound smolders in my soul
Life is a candle that one day will blow out

I dreamt of you last night
Dressed in my grandfather’s burnous, surrounded by doves
Truth flowed from your lips

Draw me a land, its borders will be paradise/No corrupt rulers and no evil wars
Just heaven on earth, full of flowers and happy children
Draw me a land, from East to West, with flowing rivers/Not a land where bare feet walk over hidden gold
Famished and dying of thirst

Draw me the smile of a resistance fighter/The sight of humiliated faces makes me rage
For the blood of freedom runs through my veins/Draw me a land whose emblem is hope

Draw me the smile of a resistance fighter/The sight of humiliated faces makes me rage
For the blood of freedom runs through my veins
Draw me a land that no artist has drawn/Draw me a land whose emblem is hope

 

Dib El Raba / Festival of Wolves
Lyrics & music: Souad Massi

(From the Arabic lyrics)
Tell those who have lied to us/Each person will be judged alone
Tell those who have wronged us/A man’s actions are all that will speak for him

Tell those who have strewn thorns on our path/Wounds are nothing new to us
Tell those who hid from us the sun’s warm rays/From thistles we will make roses

This life is full of surprises/At times we may lose people, at times we may gain some
Such is life, ever unpredictable/Like rainstorms in March

This life is full of surprises/At times we may lose people, at times we may gain some
Such is life, ever unpredictable/Like rainstorms in March

Tell he who fears his own shadow/It is in hard times that our nature shines through
Tell he who is afraid of fire/Not to play near firewood nor lean on hay bales

Tell those who have dug our graves/That we shall rise from our ashes
Tell those whose minds are tormented/That the skies are clear and the birds have flown away

This life is full of surprises/At times we may lose people, at times we may gain some
Such is life, ever unpredictable/Like rainstorms in March

 

Sequana
Lyrics & music: Souad Massi

(From the Arabic lyrics)
I love you so much that I’ll not let anything happen to you/I let the rain fall on my back so you can find shelter
When I close my eyes, life brings me to tears/Yet a smile remains drawn on my face

From the distant Sahara, each day I bring you a rose/I would walk barefoot on thorns for you
When darkness seeps into your heart/And daylight will not cross your doorstep
My shadow puppets will bring back your laughter

Life deserves not a single tear from your eyes/If the baby bird keeps trying, it will at last fly
Come dawn, the night will fade/and the sun will rise once again

If the baby bird keeps trying, it will at last fly/Come dawn, the night will fade and the sun will rise once again
Live out your dreams for today, see the glass half full/Nothing is impossible!

See life as a rose, water it well and fear not its thorns
The morning light will dispel the black night/Contemplate this life, nothing is eternal

It is over so soon, each day is a lesson/Give me your hand, let me warm it in mine
Let me soothe your worried mind/Don’t let fear take hold

Life deserves not a single tear from your eyes/If the baby bird keeps trying, it will at last fly
Come dawn, the night will fade and the sun will rise once again

Life deserves not a single tear from your eyes/If the baby bird keeps trying, it will at last fly
Come dawn, the night will finally fade and the sun will rise once again

 

Une Seule Etoile / A Single Star
Lyrics: Michel Françoise/Music: Hassan Massi

(From the French lyrics)
Why should the Earth listen to you/And God himself answer your prayers?
Why should we come to greet you/Offering flowers and proud smiles?

Have you brought comfort to the beggar you pass/He who is hungry, he who is cold?
Have you gazed at the skies with your own eyes?/Do you carry love on the tips of your fingers?

So many stars in the sky/Yet none shine just for you
Keep your eye on what is paramount/And an immense kingdom will be yours

Your pride is nothing, just a flash in the pan/It has no sense, it obeys no laws
Just a featherless bird that trembles and squawks/It’s all that we see in your mirror

Can you forgive, without pain or regret?/Are you righteous and pure, are you innocent?
Have you at least once admired/The dawn as it breaks, or the night as it waits?

So many stars in the sky/Yet none shine just for you
Keep in sight what is paramount/And the skies may open some day for you

Choose the poems that you will sing/Knead your dough and bake your bread
Regardless of who loves you, who does not/Befriend with your smile, lead the way

Then you may see the Earth and all of the world/You may hear your prayers rising to the skies
And you will discover in each instant/The light of the sun, the rolling water of rivers

So many stars in the sky/A single star will shine just for you
If you find what’s essential/An immense kingdom will be yours

 

L’Espoir / Hope
Lyrics: Michel Françoise/Music: Souad Massi

(From the French lyrics)
There is always/Just around one of life’s corners
Something surprising
A smile, a forgotten memory/Something waiting for you

There is still/The sound of a drum
A few children’s games
And all along the path/Something waiting for you

The Devil can do/Whatever he wants
My feet are firmly on the ground/We all have the right to be happy

There is always/A desire, a dream
Something important
Under the bark, the sap/Something waiting for you

There is still/The flowing river
The waves, the ocean
And under the rolling stones/Something waiting for you

The Devil can do/Whatever he wants
My feet are firmly on the ground/We all have the right to be happy

Between the promise of day and/The darkest of nights
You will always choose/Hope…

There is always/Just around one of life’s corners
Something important
A glint in an eye, a friend/Something waiting for you

There is still/At the break of dawn
The trees and the wind
In the hills all around/Something waiting for you

The Devil can do/Whatever he wants
My feet are firmly on the ground/We all have the right to be happy