Con una voz delicada y sensual, Rasha nos ofrece una serie de canciones sudanesas con las que darnos una visión amplia y actual de lo que es la música popular del país más extenso de África. Su aproximación es muy personal y está abierta no solo a la tradición folklórica sino a las distintas corrientes que desde los más diversos lugares inciden en lo que hoy en día se escucha en Jartún, en uno de cuyos enclaves, Ondurmán, nació ella.
Así encontramos desde una nana hasta un tema circular de la tradición mística sufí, pasando por una especie de reggae o una típica canción de boda. El laud árabe, las percusiones -dominadas por la darbuca-, los saxos, el acordeón, acompañan a la perfección la mágica voz.
PRENSA:
"Rasha ha puesto el alma y ha trabajado duro para dar un aire equilibrado a Sudaniyat. Algunos temas están arreglados de forma espléndida, dándoles un aire contemporáneo que no olvida el pasado; otros en cambio, mantienen su forma original, con poca instrumentación. Pero cuentan siempre con una brillante carga melódica y melancólica que demuestran el talento escondido de Rasha, que no tardará en explotar."
(Ajoblanco)
"The moment that sax blows you know you are in for a treat, and when you hear Rasha´s silky voice (Billie Holiday´s vulnerable delicacy wih Cassandra Wilson´s soulful warmth) you want to hear it again and again. Rasha a young Sudanese woman who lives in Spain, captivated international audiences with her 1998 debut, Sudaniyat, in which her gorgeous voice graced an artful blend of traditional Sudanese music, jazz and reggae."
(Stern´s)
"Absolutely gorgeous and hard to prise out of the CD player."
(Folk roots)
"Divine love can sound like a private rendezvous on Sudaniyat, the debut album by Rasha, a singer from Sudan. She has a gentle, supple, somber voice, with touches of smoke and silk. On Sudaniyat she gives it plenty of room, often singing with the minimal counterpoint of an oud, a drumbeat, or perhaps a saxophone; she sings one lullaby unaccompanied. Rasha draws on traditional songs, with their awe-struck poetry translated in the liner notes; they address earthly lovers and Allah’s messengers. Most of them are influenced by Arabic and North African music, with Rasha’s voice answered by oud and violin; she also tries understated hybrids with reggae and bossa nova. In every setting, she radiates a thoughtful tenderness”.
(New York Times)
ENGLISH:
Rasha’s music not only displays the link between the two most significant movements in the music of the Sudan –the Nubian musical tradition of the Islamic influenced north and the black–African influence of the south: Rasha’s repertoire includes elements of popular styles like reggae or relaxed Afro-Cuban rhythms (one catchy earwig is "Azara Al Hay") as well as authentic Sudanese wedding songs and lullabies or even Sufi meditations usually sung by men only.
27 year old, Rasha’s immense knowledge of her country’s rich cultural inheritance and her obvious talent as composer and bandleader turns Sudaniyat into the most magnetising and diversified image of the musical scope the Sudan has to offer to an open–minded audience.
Predominantly defined by means of Oud and percussion, partially backed up by guitar and bass or even accompanied by the full force of a Sudanese big band with accordion, violins and saxophone/s, the 10 tracks on this album carry the listener away on a magical mystery tour through a colourful scintillating bazaar of exotic and fascinating sensations.