Sub-Saharan afro-beat isn’t the usual thing to be washing up on the shores of Berlin, but then again, the psych scene here is growing and the kids are getting ever more discerning. It you’re looking for a new world-psych kick, Dakhla based act Group Doueh and their unique style of Sahrawi/Hassania music might be the next thing for you to obsess over.
“The savage flipside to the careworn sound of Tinariwen … unity of place, traditional instrumentation and source material helps it weave an otherworldly spell”
– Uncut
Headlining a wonderfully collected, although overall curious, lineup, Group Doueh are joined by Ganaian kologo (two-stringed lute with a calabash gourd resonator) master Bola and American train-ways guitar troubador Andy Dale Petty.
Bola, grown up as a livestock herder in the upper east savanahs of Ghana, aligns himself with national and international ways of expression, transforming his hometown sound into the downright avant-garde.
Andy Dale hales from Alabama, homestate of the Confederate flag and of the workshop where the first moon-rocket was constructed. Imbued with only his guitar playing and knowledge of train-hopping, he may not be able to turn water into wine, but the world would be a cold place without Andy Dale and his geetar.
Brooklyn/Berlin DJ Amazing Tapes From Africa (All Tomorrow’s Parties (2010 and 2011), Roskilde festival, Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival) will be there to fill in the gaps, playing from his collection of hundreds of cassette tapes of rare african music from Zimbabwe to Ethiopia to Senegal that he collected during his travels.
A night like this isn’t easily bought, although tickets on sale in the link below…
