Various Artists – La Ghriba: La Kahena Remixed (Six Degrees/MRA)

Last year Algerian born Cheb I Sabbah offered the exceptional La Kahena, in which he collaborated with some incredibly expressive and evocative female singers from Northern Africa. Known primarily for his DJ work, fusing North African and Arabic sounds with more contemporary electronics, he managed to fuse together Berber, Arabic and Jewish traditions in a unique electronic melting pot. Crafting rickety percussion alongside these wailing emotional voices and chants, La Kahena was one of those unique fusions of worlds that actually worked, possibly because Cheb I Sabbah’ use of electronics was quite subtle, conservatively applied so as not to disturb the emotional content of the tunes. Sabbah has now personally handed his tunes to a bunch little known artists from around the world to become a little less subtle with the electronics. London based Moroccan group MoMo take the anthem Sadat to the dance floor, whilst local Marrakech rap group are quite subtle in their tinkering with Sadat until they get on the mic themselves and kick out some Arabic hip-hop. Another Moroccan duo Da Beida 04, get the techno banging on Alla Al Hbab, Japanese DJ Makyo provides one of the highlights of La Griba, with a mesmerising dub tech treatment of Madh Assalhin, whilst Indian artist Gaurav Raina from label mates Midival Punditz not unexpectedly gets everything lush and relaxed for an incredibly laidback take on Im Ninalou. Original contributor to La Kahena bass legend Bill Laswell even pops up again, offering his bass guitar to the mix and re imagining Esh Dani Alash Mshit as a slick gentle groove. It’s very much hit and miss, particularly when compared to the originals, yet such is the strength of the original material that even when it isn’ necessarily cooking much of the spirit still shines through.