Five Music Videos From Mauritania, West Africa

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases five music videos from Mauritania. Information about Mauritania is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

I'm particularly interested in the instruments used by the musicians as well, the singing styles of the vocalists, and the clothing that the performers wear.

Unfortunately, I only speak English and therefore don't know what these songs are about. Any information about these songs will be appreciated.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT MAURITANIA
[Revised March 11, 2016]
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritania
"Mauritania... officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in the Maghreb region of western North Africa.[7][8][9] It is the eleventh largest country in Africa and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Morocco and the remnants of Western Sahara in the north, Algeria in the northeast, Mali in the east and southeast, and Senegal in the southwest.

The country derives its name from the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which existed from the 3rd century BC to the 7th century AD, in the far north of modern-day Morocco. Approximately 90% of Mauritania's land is within the Sahara and consequently the population is concentrated in the south, where precipitation is slightly higher. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast, which is home to around one-third of the country's 3.5 million people. The government was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup d'état led by then-General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won.[10]"...
-snip-
The excerpt above is from a Wikipedia article on Mauritania that I accessed on March 11, 2016. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Africa [accessed that same day], Mauritania is considered a West African nation, along with 15 other nations. However, Cameroons isn't one of those nations, but is listed as being part of Central Africa.

**
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Mauritania
"The music of Mauritania comes predominantly from the country's largest ethnic group: the Moors. In Moorish society musicians occupy the lowest caste, iggawin. Musicians from this caste used song to praise successful warriors as well as their patrons. Iggawin also had the traditional role of messengers, spreading news between villages. In modern Mauritania, professional musicians are paid by anybody to perform; affluent patrons sometimes record the entertainment, rather than the musicians themselves, and are then considered to own the recording...

Traditional instruments include an hourglass-shaped four-stringed lute called the tidinit and the woman's kora-like ardin. Percussion instruments include the tbal (a kettle drum) and daghumma (a rattle)."...

****
FEATURED EXAMPLES
(These examples are presented in chronological order based on their posting date with the oldest date given first.)

Example #1: el mesre7 echa3bi (Mauritania)



bellewarmedia.com, Uploaded on Mar 21, 2008

el mesre7 echa3bi mauretanie

****
Example #2: Ely salem Music Mauritania



bellewarmedia.com, Uploaded on Jul 13, 2009

****
Example #3: ghermy esweydeye music mauritania



bellewarmedia.com, Uploaded on Feb 16, 2011

Ghermy mint abba eswydeye http://bellewarmedia.com/germy.html

****
Example #4: belkhere yelalkom meso eydikom music mauritania



bellewarmedia.com, Uploaded on Mar 2, 2011

****
Example #5: dimi mint abba 7ala theghila music mauritania



bellewarmedia.com, Uploaded on Mar 21, 2011

http://bellewarmedia.com/dimi.html
-snip-
From Wikipedia: Music Of Mauritania
"In spite of the rarity of female musicians in Mauritania, the most famous Moorish musician is a woman, Dimi Mint Abba. Dimi's parents were both musicians (her father had been asked to compose the Mauritanian national anthem), and she began playing at an early age. Her professional career began in 1976, when she sang on the radio and then competed, the following year, in the Umm Kulthum Contest in Tunis."

****
Thanks to the featured vocalists and musicians who are featured in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.