Somalia with five children at the height of the civil war. She was to walk, and ride on donkeys and trucks through the desert for seven exhausting months before reaching safety. On the way she wrote 'Qax/Refugee'. This epic is the tragic story of Maryam's flight. She tells of the tragedy as the fighting survivor - proud and adamant, she insists that peace must prevail so that the country may rise again.
The sound of contemporary Somalia with a dynamic vocal performance from Maryam Mursal. Whopping chunky brass and thunderous bass and percussion bring in a highly charged set of songs perfectly captured by the Real World engineers.
.Relying on her unbroken spirit and sandy resolve, Mursal tells her story with terrific grace and ebullience even as she mourns her country's difficulties. She’s been through too much to do a polite, sad documentary.
11 June 1998
Press review from: Rolling Stone (USA)
The very first listen to Mursal will tell you this: she is an authentic, incredible talent, a singer of great range and passion and an adept juggler of cultural sounds and styles ...
The journey actually sounds like an international achievement ... to create a wonderful music that is both distinctive and unusual, and yet totally inviting.
May-June 1998
Press review from: Option Magazine (USA)
Somali singer Maryam Mursal is blessed with haunting vocals that pierce your soul, and
a keen storytelling ability... Mursal is poised for international stardom.
May 1998
Press review from: Black Elegance (USA)
To put it simply: 'The Journey ' is an album that definitively puts Maryam Mursal...
up amongst the stars. .. a fantastic, beautiful result of international format. A captivating and exciting mix of afro-arabic and western music.
April 1998
Press review from: Djembe (Denmark)
Her debut album is a sophisticated voyage undertaken with strings and percussion. Mursal . . . has a fearless, smooth voice and a pop sensibility that brings ‘The Journey’
back home.
April 1998
Press review from: Marie Claire (USA)
I can't recall when an Afro-pop record bowled me over the way Maryam Mursal's has ... as good as world music gets.
April 1998
Press review from: Request (USA)
Funkier than a room full of snowboarders. You experiment with this rhythmic colossus at your peril - inhale it and you could win the giant slalom, break the world speed record and fly a balloon around the world. Undoubtedly the funkiest LP ever to come courtesy of the Danish Music Council.
11 March 1998
Press review from: Time Out (UK)
A voice that pleads for home ... Far and away the funkiest album ever connected to Denmark . . . sympathetic but indomitable, a woman who knows what she wants . . . her voice is as rich and assertive as those of Margareth Menezes of Brazil and Angelique Kidjo of Benin. ‘The Journey’ rides Somalian melodies into a cross-cultural wonderland. Mursal and her arranger, Soren Kjaer Jensen, realized that her voice could stand up to just about anything. Mursal sounds too tough to let herself be reduced to an exotic sonic ingredient. When she tours this summer as part of Africa Fete, her forthright voice will not be denied.
29 March 1998
Press review from: New York Times (USA)
Deep, dirty funk from Somalia, anyone? ... the kind of classic funk that would have suited Sweet Sweetback's Baadass Song.
March 1998
Press review from: Mojo (UK)
If you're looking for an artist who stands for something big - who moves you, impresses you, and broadens you while thrilling you - here she is, cutting through it all.
March 1998
Press review from: Interview (USA)
"... compelling listening ... her voice packs a powerful and emotional punch.
March 1998
Press review from: Music Week (UK)
Truly breathtaking ... If this album does not propel her ... to consideration as one of the world's great female voices, up there with your Aretha's, there ain't no justice:
March 1998
Press review from: Folk Roots (UK)
Mursal's honey-smoked alto weaves a hypnotic web of back-home ululations and R&B diva moanings. The Journey and Mursal swing beautifully. Twenty-first century global soul begins here.
March 1998
Press review from: Vibe (USA)
Funky and infectious, it deserves to be the crossover hit of the year.
25 March 1998
Press review from: What’s On In London (UK)
This ... is a joyful collage of influences. This music feels like hobbling on stillettos when you're used to flats: it'll force you to use muscles you didn't know you had.
March 1998
Press review from: Jane Magazine (USA)
Star Rise
Bliss
