Dissidenten
Sahara Elektrik

THE REVIEW

Inshallah, God willing, they love to repeat in the Maghreb, a land of great charm and allure. The Dissidenten make it the inaugural wish of their second album, "Sahara Elektrik," recorded in Tangier and released in 1984.

Music that bears the mark of contamination, as one might logically expect from the album's title and the group's name, a German trio formed in Berlin but with roots reaching into the Middle East and India: exiles in their homeland seeking in other places a new promised land.

The title of the album says it all about the music encountered here: a powerful, very rhythmic sound, supported by Marlon Klein's relentless percussion and Uve Müllrich's bass and guitar, who also plays the characteristic Arab lute, the oud. The two provide the group's vocals, while the Arabian hue comes from Friedo Josch's wind instruments, as well as keyboards. And the lyrics are sung in Arabic, with the unmistakable chromaticism typical of Middle Eastern melodies.

In short, you will have understood: this is a world music album released when world music did not yet exist, or rather, it had not yet been thought of for commercial exploitation; in the early '80s, it was rather called world beat.

This album is the soundtrack of a journey through the desert, which from the invocation of the opening track, "Inshallah" passes through the mirage of "Fata Morgana", at the time a memorable dance hit; the camel-back crossing continues with "El Mounadi", life in the desert: and each of the first three tracks is 6 minutes long. Through the 11 minutes of "Sahara Elektrik" we reach "Casablanca", another 10 minutes, before the shadows fall on the weary pilgrim with the brief instrumental closing of "Shadows Go Arab".

Great work, "Sahara Elektrik," which enjoyed some success in Italy, also thanks to its reissue in 1987 by the forward-thinking independent label Materiali Sonori. Remember it the next time you embark on a journey, especially if uncertain and difficult: the wish is to reach the destination safe and sound, God willing, Inshallah.