more from
Strut
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

El Hal / The Feeling

by Electric Jalaba

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A1 TORA TORA
    A2 CUBAILI BA
    A3 AGIA HAUSA
    A4 DAIMLA
    A5 HINDEWU

    B1 FULAN
    B2 SHABAKRU
    B3 BRIANDO
    B4 LAGMAMI

    Includes unlimited streaming of El Hal / The Feeling via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    6 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      £18 GBP

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    1. TORA TORA
    2. CUBAILI BA
    3. AGIA HAUSA
    4. DAIMLA
    5. FULAN
    6. SHABAKRU
    7. BRIANDO
    8. TUGRA
    9. HINDEWU
    10. LAGMAMI

    Includes unlimited streaming of El Hal / The Feeling via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £12 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £11 GBP  or more

     

1.
Tora Tora 03:33
2.
Cubaili Ba 03:50
3.
Agia Hausa 04:15
4.
Daimla 03:56 video
5.
Fulan 04:50
6.
Shabakru 06:00
7.
Briando 04:07
8.
Tugra 03:53
9.
Hindewu 03:07
10.
Lagmami 04:32

about

Electric Jalaba comprises six accomplished musicians with an empathy that feels telepathic and a groove that immerses. In Arabic, the mother tongue of Moroccan-born singer and guimbri player Simo Lagnawi, a leading practitioner of Gnawa music in Britain, they call this indefinable quality, “El Hal” – “The feeling”. “It’s the feeling that comes when we’re playing and totally forgetting where we are,” says producer and bassist Olly Keen. “The feeling of being grabbed by the music and lost in the groove.”

El Hal is the new third album from Electric Jalaba and their first release in five years. It’s a multi-faceted work that finds the band tighter than ever, deploying a vast cache of influences across nine tracks improvised and developed in their south London studio then deftly produced by Keen. Some tracks pay homage to the origins of Gnawa music, whose repertoire of Arabic-language praise songs contains remnants of West African dialects – Bambara from Mali, Fulani and Hausa from the Sahel region – that point to a centuries-old migration.

“The trance-inducing effect of Gnawa was what hit us first. It was visceral, heart stopping,” continues Olly, whose siblings – producer/keys player Henry Keen, guitarist/ multi-instrumentalist Nathaniel Keen and singer/multi-instrumentalist Barnaby Keen – make up Electric Jalaba alongside revered Anglo-Italian kit drummer Dave De Rose and Simo on vocals, krakeb and guimbri. “Simo selected the chant from the traditional song suites and, as a band, we extended these short pieces of ceremonial music and experimented with sound and structure,” explains Olly.

Tracks include the funky single ‘Cubaili Ba’ featuring the disco-fied patterns of a Juno synth and the drumming of De Rose; ‘Agia Hausa’ is a multi-layered wig-out that partly takes its inspiration from Senegal’s fiercely percussive mbalax rhythms and ‘Daimla’ is a gloriously dubby ode to Allah and iconic maalems including the late Mahmoud Guinea. “There’s a very strong rhythmic element within the band but because of our different perspectives but the melodic components are really unique as well,” says Henry. That feeling of being outside of yourself but totally within yourself at the same time… That’s what all of us, collectively, are striving for.”

credits

released March 19, 2021

2020, Strut Records - a division of K7 Music GmbH

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Electric Jalaba UK

A deep groove-heavy meeting between Moroccan Gnawa master Simo Lagnawi, Italian/English drummer Dave De Rose and four musical brothers; Henry, Oliver, Nathaniel and Barnaby Keen from Dorset (UK).

Traditional songs about colourful spirits, mysterious women, men that divide oceans and armies of conquerors weave themselves among enormous infectious grooves, analogue effects and warped guitars.
... more

contact / help

Contact Electric Jalaba

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Electric Jalaba, you may also like: