Aziza Brahim
The poet and the spokeswoman from the desert
With her deep and passionate voice, Aziza Brahim bridges her roots in Western Sahara, via her youth in Cuba, and her adult life in Barcelona, where she now lives in exile. She is a lyric poet and a strong spokesperson for the Saharawi people's struggle for a homeland of their own. Her music reflects both the sorrow and hope of all the thousands who fled their homes in Western Sahara to camps on the Algerian border.
Aziza Brahim was born and raised in Sahrawi refugee camps on the border between Algeria and Western Sahara. A tough upbringing that gave her a strong will. In the riots that followed Morocco's invasion of Western Sahara in 1975, the teenage Aziza fled to Cuba to finish high school and study music. In Cuba, she felt the deep economic crisis of the 1990s firsthand, and she was denied further musical education at university. In Cuba, she was influenced by rhythms and melodies, which can still be heard in her music.
Life as a refugee became a recurring theme in Aziza Brahim's beautiful and melancholic music. She sang in Hassaniya Arabic, but also in Spanish, about the injustices experienced by people in refugee camps. Not just in Western Sahara, but all the millions of refugees on our planet.
Aziza Brahim lives in exile in Spain. It is there that she has written and recorded her sixth album, Mawja, the fourth on Glitterbeat. Her songs still have roots in her homeland, but their gaze is more global. Through her collaboration with Spanish Amparo Sánches, the music has received new impulses and new arrangements, making it ready for new generations.
Aziza Brahim – vocals, tabla
Ignasi Cusso - guitar
Guillem Aguilar - bass
Andreu Moreno - drums
Concerts
Thursday, July 4th at 8:00 PM Opening concert: Roots
The sports hall, Førdehuset
Ticket sales for the opening concert open on Thursday, April 4th.