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Two days of sandblasted trancendentalism at Cafe OTO with this residency for Group Doueh from Dakhla in the Western Sahara. Performing as a five piece band and playing two extended sets each night, the group switch between a hypnotic and ecstatic guitar trance that filters their rock and pop influences to meditative and transcendental acoustic folk tracks as well as synthesising all of these strands into celebratory new forms. Seeing them in such an intimate club setting over here is a rare treat and this is sure to go down as one of the highlights of 2012!
Group Doueh's mix of the ancient and modern is rooted in the traditional foundations of Sahrawi/Hassania music, but is also entirely their own. It shares its roots with the neighbouring styles of Mauritanian music, however Group Doueh have managed to transcend the classical limitations of that music with a fiery, independent, and individualistic approach that incorporates a distinctly rock element anomalous in the region. It's a sound that can only come from the land that inspired it: the Sahara desert.
The now legendary Group Doueh have been playing in and around their native Dakhla, in the Western Sahara for over 27 years. They first came to Western ears via tireless work of Sublime Frequencies who heard a track on an AM radio broadcast in Morocco in 2005 and then tracked them down as part of an exploratory mission that finally landed Hisham Mayet in the group’s compound - but only after chasing an overland trail all the way to the Mauritanian border!
Group Doueh then toured Europe with labelmate Omar Souleyman in 2009 for western audiences where Western audiences first witnessed the power of the group’s mighty live shows. Doueh’s guitar heroics and wife Halima Jakani and Bashiri Touballi’s soaring vocal interplay entranced all who were present. In 2010 Doueh hosted Tony Allen in his home town and joined in on some of his dates in Europe before returning to Europe in May 2011 with new album Zunya Jamma in tow, delivering a blistering set at the Animal Collective ATP and sending the atmosphere skybound everywhere they travelled.
“One the festival’s finest feelgood moments … snaking, mesmeric guitar playing … Doueh and family made the entire room glow with folk chants and electrified stomps” - Spin on Group Doueh at ATP
“The savage flipside to the careworn sound of Tinariwen … unity of place, traditional instrumentation and source material helps it weave an otherworldly spell” - Uncut
"A densely layered piece of cultural cross-pollination that consistently spills over into outright joy." Pitchfork (on Zayna Jumma)
