The release of Aziza Brahim’s latest album, Mawja, marks the end of five tumultuous years. The Sahrawi singer’s previous LP, 2019’s Sahari, blended soaring vocals with experimental electronic production to create a lament for her people, whose homeland in the Western Sahara has long been occupied by neighbouring Morocco. The widespread critical acclaim it received allowed Brahim to book an extensive European tour.
Almost immediately, though, things began to fall apart. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the abrupt cancellation of live shows while, in November 2020, clashes between the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Moroccan forces led to an ongoing war in the Western Sahara. Then, in 2021, Brahim’s greatest artistic influence, her grandmother Lkhadra Mint Mabruk, died.
Read the profile in Hyphen Magazine.
[This piece was published on 20/02/24]