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  Souad Massi
Mesk Elil (Universal Music France, 2005)
A softer, more centered
Souad
Massi greets us upon our entry to this, her third album. Impending
motherhood and her personal development into a major star on the international
music scene have resulted in a more upbeat and uplifting set of songs which look
at life from sunny side up. As a confirmed fan of her dour but beautiful
back-catalogue this reviewer was more than a little concerned by the development
on first listen. But, as I've learned from listening to and reviewing thousands
of albums, it's best not to let first impressions last and repeat listening
brings many new rewards from a set which includes only one song which comes
across as too stylistically remote and cloying. That tune - the title track as
it happens - looks back at her childhood (perhaps affected by her current
condition) in a rather sentimental and over-indulgent way. Coming after one of
the album's finest tracks, ilham (inspiration), which dynamically blends the
best of Massi's North African roots with western pop sounds, it's a minor
irritant but easily dealt with by the CD player's 'prog' button.
The 11-song set varies instrumentally from full-on rock-styled accompaniment
to the more familiar acoustic ground of Deb and Raoui and gems surface
everywhere you look. Manensa asli (I won't forget my roots), a lovely duet with
Real World's new signing Daby Touré finds Massi in vocally fine form and the
more melancholy edge in her work is still present in beautiful ballads such as
dar dgedi (my grandfather's house) and there's worse. The third release from an
artist usually finds them moving on stylistically and emotionally, which is why
it's often viewed as a tricky moment in an artists career. Title track apart,
Souad Massi has succesfully crossed that Rubycon with Mesk elil.
[Buy
Mesk Elil , and her other albums,
Deb and
Raoui].
Other Souad Massi stories:
Souad Massi's Deb
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