MwSOUL

Tunisian-born but now Brussels-based singer Ghalia Benali's rich and experimental career spans two decades and touches not only on music, but also film and visual arts. This latest project, MwSoul (Connected), is born out of the turmoil of the Arab uprisings, particularly in Egypt. The trigger was a poem sent to Benali by a young Egyptian, Abdallah Ghoneim. The questions it raised concerning the nature of freedom led Benali towards a creative response, considering what a Sufi-inspired internal and personal freedom might be, rather than a more political one.
The album that has resulted sees Benali teaming up with her long-time collaborators Mâäk – a six-piece Belgian band comprising trumpet, saxophones, trombone, oud (lute) and drums. While the brass playing is proudly multicultural, bringing in elements of jazz, Benali's music and song remain steeped in the classical Arabic tradition. She sang the oeuvre of Oum Kalthoum (1900-1975) – the greatest of Arab singers – on a previous album released in 2010 and this grounding is always in evidence. There is a deep, brooding nature to the music, moving into desert blues on tracks like ‘The Fortune Teller’, and a disarming confidentiality to the singing. This is a unique mix of the utterly modern and avant-garde with the ancient and time-honoured.