Noura Mint Seymali: Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST 2023

For the third consecutive year, NPR teamed up with globalFEST in January 2023 for a thrilling online music festival we call Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST: three nights, nine bands, and a world of musical traditions hosted by African pop star Angélique Kidjo. Now, we're posting all the sets from our festival as individual Tiny Desk (home) concerts. To see the translations on these videos, please click the 'CC' button.

Noura Mint Seymali is Mauritania's defining artist on the international stage. Drawing on the timeless repertoire of the Moorish griot, a hereditary class of musical poets and historians, her band conjures "a full blown sandstorm of hypnotic grooves, melding traditional Mauritanian instruments within an electrified psychedelic rock band." Expanding a sound born of Arab and sub-Saharan roots, Noura Mint Seymali bends the arc of Moorish musical tradition to fit our contemporary moment.

SET LIST

• "Na Ha"
• "Tasirit"
• "Ghlana"

MUSICIANS

• Noura Mint Seymali: vocals, ardine
• El Jeich Chighaly: guitar
• Ousmane Touré: bass
• Matthew Tinari: drums

CREDITS

• Producer: Matthew Tinari
• Audio: Dahman Ba
• Video: Dahman Ba, Line Diop, 2F Xaliss
• Special thanks to Levrig Restaurant, Nouakchott

TINY DESK TEAM

• Creative Director: Bob Boilen 
• Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin 
• Series Producer: Bobby Carter 
• Editing: Joshua Bryant
• Tiny Desk Team: Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer

GLOBALFEST TEAM

• Co-Directors: Shanta Thake, Isabel Soffer and Bill Bragin
• 2023 Curators: Shanta Thake, Isabel Soffer, Bill Bragin and Meera Dugal
• Event Producer: Ian Thake
• Host: Angélique Kidjo
• Legal Services: Tamizdat
• Legal Services: Duane Morris
• Video Production: Karim Tabbaa

FUNDERS:

• The Mellon Foundation
• The National Endowment for the Arts
• NYC Department of Cultural Affairs

SPECIAL THANKS:

• Ken Umezaki
• Fabian Alsultany
• Steven Kirkpatrick
• David Komar

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.