Hindi Zahra was a revelation at this year’s Gnaoua world music festival in Essaouira. She prowled across the stage as if channelling Patti Smith, switching from jazz-tinged ballads to north African-influenced pieces and furious improvisation. Zahra’s mother is Berber, her dad is French and she is based in Morocco, where she recorded most of this album. It’s an impressive set that shows off her fine, controlled vocals on cool torch ballads in English and French, flamenco-influenced compositions and, best of all, desert blues. The opening To the Forces is a brooding, bluesy piece helped by pounding percussion and powerful guitar by the Tuareg star Bombino, and there is a return to the blues with Cabo Verde, sung in Berber. It’s an excellent followup to her 2010 album, Handmade. All that’s lacking is the energy and spontaneity she showed performing live.
