Mdou Moctar reveals the lead single and video for their new album Funeral for Justice (3rd May – Matador)…Primed with a new sense of purpose and urgency, their music is louder, faster, and fiery.
Our recent Afro and Arabic Funk #1 playlist opened to an early Sahel Sounds compilation titled
Music from Saharan Cellphones. The music featured was, as the title suggests, taken from cellphones…essentially a West African music exchange system and it was through this compilation that the Tuareg innovator Mdou Moctar first came to global attention. Over the years, his sound has evolved to incorporate other influences such as rock and psychedelia and he is now they – a band. The first full band album came in 2019 on Sahel Sounds – Ilana: The Creator, followed by Afrique Victime in 2021 on Matador Records, their current label.
For the present-day quartet, Moctar is joined by rhythm guitarist Ahmoudou Madassane, drummer Souleymane Ibrahim, and American bassist and producer Mikey Coltun. The new album Funeral For Justice (3rd May) was recorded at the end of the long touring schedule of their last album, and that live audience engagement has clearly had a lasting impact (Yousra Mansour, the front woman of the French-Moroccan power quartet Bab L’ Bluz spoke of a similar experience recently). While Moctar fans now know what to expect at live shows, that wasn’t always the case. Their first US shows were mistakenly, organized to be tame seated affairs – they are now recognized to be a place for dancing, if not full-force moshing. Not surprisingly, that energy has also shaped their sound which is both louder, faster, and more wild. As their Matador says, The guitar solos are feedback-scorched, and the lyrics are passionately political. Nothing is held back or toned down.
The accompanying video for Funeral For Justice says it all.
The quartet will perform UK headline and festival dates this summer, including a show at Electric Brixton on July 3rd and End Of The Road festival in August, with further dates to follow.
Talking about their new sound, Mikey Coltun said: “Ilana was the gateway album, saying that this is a raw rock band. And Afrique Victime was a summation of that vision,” says Coltun, who recorded the entire record over five days in a mostly unfurnished house in upstate New York. “With Funeral For Justice, I really wanted this to shine with the political message because of everything that’s going on. As the band got tighter and heavier live, it made sense to capture this urgency and this aggression – it wasn’t a forced thing, it was very natural.”
Those who follow Chicago’s International Anthem label will know of Damon Locks. He knows a thing or two about evolving sound, as his Black Monument Ensemble went from a sample-based sound collage work to a vibrant collective of artists, singers, dancers and musicians that included Angel Bat Dawid and Ben LaMar Gay. That project held hope and joy in abundance, so it’s very fitting that he should be sharing some words on Funeral For Justice – at what feels like an important juncture in the Mdou Moctar’s music and on an album that doesn’t shy away from drawing focus on the plight of Niger and of the Tuareg people.
Damon spoke of the fight for liberation, emphasising the transformational power of music – “a clarion call for reason and a belief that change is possible”:
“There is a beauty in listening to music made in the spirit of energetic transformation. When the sounds transform the air and the listener. This record transports the listener into the heart of the music of Mdou Moctar. The blending of intention and motivation creates a burst of sound that embraces and shakes and invites one to dance! It invites one to breathe. It invites one to be in solidarity with the music. It invites one to be in touch with the human condition. What does it mean to be free in these times? Can the world be liberated from the colonial mindstate that has caused such harm and mistrust? Can we mourn our losses yet build anew to form something more astounding, more fantastic? ‘Funeral For Justice’ says we can.
A sound that carries weight makes an impact. A sound that carries time transcends time. We are not only listening to music but we are living through it. We are living with it. We are living in it. The artist sees history and makes poetry from it for the present. Mdou Moctar’s ‘Funeral For Justice’ requests your presence. Show up open to the celebration of life, loved as it should be loved. Experience the exaltation and exuberance. The words speak of ascension, awareness, sorrow, apathy, knowing, and growth. The guitars speak of power, energy, jubilation, transcendency, immediacy, and tradition. The drums and percussion mark the pulse of now as well as a timeless dance that involves us all, as it did those that came before us. The wires that carry the message feel alive with fire and purpose, explosive with possibility. This “funeral” is an acknowledgment. This “funeral” is abundant. This “funeral” overflows into the street filled with dance. This “funeral” stretches late into the night, kicking up the dirt, with the hum of a generator, an ever present member of the rhythm section. This “funeral” is a clarion call for reason and a belief that change is possible.
So join Mdou Moctar in this funeral for justice, knowing rebirth is possible. A new justice is possible. With your voice, your heart, your dance, your stomp, a new justice is born. Mdou Moctar welcomes you with joy and open arms. Be here. Feel here and do, alongside this music. Don’t stand alone, join with others and do. Fight for liberation. Stand against oppression, alongside this music and do!”
FUNERAL FOR JUSTICE TRACKLIST
1. Funeral For Justice
2. Imouhar
3. Takoba
4. Sousoume
5. Imagerhan
6. Tchinta
7. Djallo #1
8. Oh France
9. Modern Slaves
Mdou Moctar Live Dates
April 14 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
April 21 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
June 5 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Anchor Rock Club
June 6 – Harrisburg, PA @ The Abbey Bar at ABC
June 7 – Richmond, VA @ Cheers Brown’s Island
June 8 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom
June 9 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
June 11 – Charleston, SC @ Pour House
June 12 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
June 13 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
June 14 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
June 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Hi-Fi
June 18 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
June 19 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Bag
June 20 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
June 21 – Buffalo, NY @ Asbury Hall
June 22 – Greenfield, MA @ Green River Music Festival
June 23 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
June 26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
June 27 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
June 28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
July 3 – London, UK @ Electric Brixton
July 7 – Beuningen, NL @ Down the Rabbit Hole
August 19 – Berlin, DE @ Festaal Kreuzberg
August 20 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Kreuzberg
August 21 – Munich, DE @ Ampere
August 22 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia Summer Stage
August 25 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
August 26 – Antwerp, BE @ OLT Revierenhof
August 27 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
August 30 – Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
August 31 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Psych Fest
September 1 – Birmingham, UK @ Moseley Folk Festival
September 2 – Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke’s
September 3 – Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
September 4 – Leeds, UK @ The Brudenell Social Club
Pre-Order Funeral for Justice – 3rd May on Matador Records: https://mdoumoctar.ffm.to/funeralforjustice