Hi everybody. Thanks for all the birthday wishes on Facebook! I've got a coupla things I want to write about from today, because today was great. But it's after midnight here in the great country of Texas so I'm gonna save it for tomorrow. However, I wanted to put something up for my birthday and thanks to a friend on Facebook (Jay) who was also a Peace Corps volunteer to Mauritania (not at the same time as me though) I've got a little something for you here to tide you over till I write something for real.
One day in Nouakchott Melissa and I got into a taxi and the music sounded pretty good. It was also in Hassaniya. The driver, like many Mauritanians we met, was surprised that we knew Hassaniya and was happy to tell us all about this group. Apparently they sing a lot about social issues and situations in Mauritania. I was impressed. Well, Jay posted what I think is a music video from this same group (I mean, how many can there be? Mauritania is a small country). My Hassaniya isn't good enough to follow the message of the music very well, but I'm gonna try to listen to it a bunch over the next few days and see if I can't decipher it a bit. My guess from the words that I picked up is that they are singing about the poor and the problem of poverty in Mauritania...but then, I could be completely wrong. For all those Hassaniya speakers out there feel free to correct me and translate any parts of the song that you want.
Here's the video:
i'm so glad you posted this, although it keeps getting in my head! wish we could get a cd somewhere. msakin...
ReplyDeleteI don't speak Hassaniya at all (unless you count my vocabulary of approximately 20 words), but I really like this. Great sound.
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