Noura Mint Seymali

One of Mauritania's foremost musical emissaries and the descendent of a prominent line of Moorish griot, in a performance combining her ancient musical lineage with rock and psychedelia. Recorded live at Pioneer Works, February 2016.

Noura began her career at age 13 as a supporting vocalist with her step-mother, the legendary Dimi Mint Abba. Noura also mastered the ardine, a 9-string harp reserved only for women. Today she is backed by a rhythm section composed of Ousmane Touré (bass) and Matthew Tinari (drums). Her husband, guitarist Jeiche Ould Chighaly provides ngoni-inspired, distortion- fueled psych guitar lines. Her music has found a new audience in Europe and North America.

The quartet released its first full-length album for the international market via Glitterbeat Records and has performed at events like Festival-au-Desert (Mali), Hayy Festival (Egypt), Jeux de Francophonie (France), Globafest (US) and Festival Timitar (Morocco). Through collaborations with artists like Tinariwen, Bassekou Kouyaté, and Baaba Maal, the band is actively exposing Mauritanian roots music to the world.

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