Counterflows
Noura Mint Seymali/Sacred Paws, Langside Halls, Glasgow
Keith Bruce
five stars
In my experience of the venue - admittedly as a somewhat sporadic visitor - Langside Halls has not seen such excitement in perhaps as much as four decades. Spilling over the road from a Sunday residency at the Glad Cafe, Counterflows teamed a UK debut by Mauritania's biggest star with the launch of duo Sacred Paws debut disc on Mogwai's Rock Action label. Drummer Eilidh Rodgers takes most of the vocal lead in their unique mix of Hi-life, Afro-beat, and power pop, but it is guitarist Rachel Aggs' awesome command of her Fender Telecaster that is the real wonder, throwing out funky bass and catchy lead lines as well as stabs of rhythm chords - combined with an infectiously bouncy stage presence. The pair have some very fine hooky tunes as well, such that an appearance on the hit parade is surely only a matter of skilful marketing.
Aggs was also enthusiastically bopping down the front for the set by Noura Mint Seymali and her trio, dominated by husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly's guitar. What at first seems like an odd collision of traditional African song and prog-rock required only a minor retuning of the ears before the hips and other body parts of the entire room were in motion, triggered, oddly, by a ring-a-roses response to a tune introduced as "Africa's Auld Lang Syne".With Seymali adding the traditional ardine instrument to the solid bass of Ousmane Toure and Matthew Tinari's drums, the pace of the set built inexorably until the floor was filled with a mass of joyous humanity. The singer's English is limited, but the curfew-challenging chant of "one more tune" was quickly understood.
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