Noura Mint Seymali

Noura Mint Seymali

Noura Mint Seymali is a Mauritanian singer and composer rooted in the Moorish griot tradition. She begins performing at 13 as a supporting vocalist with her step-mother, Dimi Mint Abba, who is widely regarded as one of Mauritania’s major musical figures. Seymali grows up in a musical family: her grandmother, Mounina, trains her in instrumental technique, and she learns to play the ardine, a nine-string harp reserved for women. Her father, Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall, is a scholar of Mauritanian music whose work includes study of Arab classical music in Iraq, the creation of the first system for Moorish melodic notation, adaptation of the national anthem, and the composition of many pieces later popularised by Dimi Mint Abba.

Career

In 2004, Noura Mint Seymali and her husband, Jeiche Ould Chighaly, form their first fusion band. Chighaly plays modified electric guitar and draws on his background as a master of the tidinit, also known as the ngoni or xalam, bringing traditional Moorish phrasing into an electric setting. Noura and Jeiche later present a more stripped-back band centred on the azawan, a Hassaniya term for the collective ensemble of traditional instruments such as the ardine, tidinit and guitar. Their rhythm section includes Ousmane Touré on bass and Matthew Tinari on drums.

Recordings and performances

Before reaching an international audience, she releases two local albums in Mauritania, Tarabe in 2006 and El Howl in 2010. The group then releases two EPs, Azawan in 2012 and Azawan II in 2013, before issuing its first full-length album for the international market, Tzenni, on Gliiterbeat Records in 2014. She and her band tour widely and appear at globalFEST in the United States, Festival au Désert in Mali, Hayy Festival in Egypt, the Jeux de Francophonie in France and Festival Timitar in Morocco.

Collaborations and musical role

Noura Mint Seymali collaborates with artists including Tinariwen, Bassekou Kouyaté and Baaba Maal. Her work brings together Moorish roots music, West African influences and contemporary electric instrumentation, and she is presented as an important figure in the international circulation of Mauritanian music.