Nabil Othmani: like father, like son

With percussionist Steve Shehan

Paris 

18/03/2010 - 

Lovers of desert music will have not forgotten the great Tuareg icon Baly Othmani. Five years after his death, his son Nabil is following in his footsteps, while at the same time carving out his own musical path. RFI Musique profiles the artist as he releases two albums (one with percussionist Steve Shehan), carving out a promising career.  

“Steve is my blood brother. Apart from the fact that we understand each other so well, the most extraordinary thing about our partnership is that he’s rediscovered his Indian roots thanks the Tuareg tradition,” said Tuareg lute player and singer Baly Othmani back in 2003, describing his encounter in the 1990s with part-Cherokee producer Steve Shehan, percussionist and musical all-rounder.

Together they made three albums, starting off with Assouf which in 1994 brought Tuareg music to the world’s attention. The partnership ended with Baly’s tragic death in June 2005, when his body was found in the waters of the river running through Djanet, his home town. “What he gave me was a taste for music,” recalls his son Nabil, who started playing guitar at the age of 13. “When I saw him play, I knew something big was happening. His music got into my blood.” And now the son is continuing the father’s work, collaborating with Steve Shehan. They met up in 2007 when Shehan come to Djanet to honour the memory of his friend. “The last time I’d seen him he’d been a child, and now he was a tall, elegant, talented young man.”

Voyage in the desert

Steve Shehan, a great lover of meditative hikes in the Sahara, asked the 24-year-old if he wanted to continue the journey Shehan had started with his father by making a new album. Awalin ("word", in Tamasheq) is a sweet voyage that scrambles the senses while at the same time penetrating deep into the soul of the desert. On this album, the young Tuareg with eyes as intense as those of his father – but with a voice that is “more feminine, less harsh”, according to Steve Shehan – broadens his horizons.

Alongside Nabil and Steve you can hear a Siberian flautist, an Indian sarangi, sounds from Egyptian radio, the trumpeter Ibrahim Malouf, and on the duduk Didier Malherbe, who plays with Steve Shehan in the Hadouk Trio. All these sounds combine to create an ambience that reflects the beauty and infinity of the desert. “The desert is something we cherish, which is ever present in our minds,” says Nabil. “I often sing about it in my songs, as did my father.” Indeed, he dedicated a superb ballad to this “life companion of mine.”

“Nabil has a thirst for music that reminds me of Baly, although unlike his father, he plays more guitar than luth,” notes Steve Shehan. This thirst is readily apparent in Nabil who has already made a number of albums, including with the group Timitar (the name means “memory”), and has performed at traditional celebrations.

Guitarist first and foremost

"The instrument I most prefer is the guitar, maybe because it was what I played first. I really like the luth, my father’s favourite instrument, but with the guitar I feel that I express more of myself. I have a way of strumming the oud in a way that you can feel I’m really a guitarist, and a way of strumming the guitar where you get the impression I’m playing the oud… I listen to all sorts of music: reggae, rock, French chanson, country – but above all Tuareg and African music.”

His main influences are people like Ali Farka Touré, Habib Koité or Francis Cabrel… without of course forgetting Tinariwen, whose iconic Imidiwan he covered on his eponymous debut. Also featured on this album is a song of his grandmother, poetry from his father that Nabil put to music, a reggae-tinged ode to his native city Djanet, and the playing of  Sanou Ag Ahmed, the guitarist from Terakaft. Listeners discover an artist who is not weighed down by his musical heritage, who sings in French and is resolutely open to the music of the world.

Touches of flamenco, fuzzy rock, melancholy folk and even a stab at electronica: it’s clear that Nabil, like his father, has that nomadic curiosity that marks out the Saharan spirit. And yet like his ancestors, this young Algerian knows where he comes from: an ancient matriarchal society where it is the women who sing and beat the drums.

In his family, all the women are singers, passing the tradition down from mother to daughter. “The Tindé style remains essential in my music. Because that’s where the roots of Tuareg music lie. I use the Tindé rhythm very often in my songs and I also adapt traditional Tindé songs for the guitar.” It’s no coincidence that the young artist has named his album Tamghart In, which means “my mother” in Tamasheq!

Steve Shehan and Nabil Othmani: Awalin (Safar Prod/Naïve) 2009
Nabil Othmani: Tamghart In (Reaktion) 2010

Steve Shehan and Nabil Othmani in concert, 19 March at the New Morning,  Paris
22-27 March: in residence at the Opéra, Lyon (3 concerts).

Jacques  Denis

Translation : Hugo  Wilcken