Targ

Hidden away between the mountains of north-west Tunisia and the Algerian border lies the Bargou valley, an isolated area that has developed its own culture and its own music. Singer Nidhal Yahyaoui grew up here, and began collecting the local songs a decade ago. Now these are the basis of an intriguing Tunisian folk-rock project in which Yahyaoui sings and plays the wtar (lute), joined by a band playing drums and the bendir (frame drum), along with local reed instruments, the gasba (flute) and the more oboe-like zokra, while his producer Sofyann Ben Youssef adds traditional bass rhythms on the Moog synthesizer. Recorded in the Yahyaoui family home, with bales of hay acting as acoustic baffles, it's a no-nonsense, rough-and-ready set dominated by Nidhal's full-tilt vocals. The best song, ‘Dek Biya’, starts as a conversation between voice and reeds, backed by solid percussion work that speeds up as the song develops into a trance-like track driven on by the synth riffs. ‘Wazzaa’ is a stomping dance song, with flute matched by loping bass riffs, while the finale ‘Sidi el Kadhi’ is a declamatory acoustic track that proves that the band are still effective without the synth.