Track of the day: ‘AmmA’ by Bab L’ Bluz

'AmmA' draws on music from north-east Morocco and influences from Tunisia and Algeria.

‘AmmA’ has a pent-up energy that burst into passionate ululations as singer Yousra Mansour narrates the story of mothers confronted with the realities of a society marked by injustices. “Awaken, women/Rise, women/I am not half a man/That time is over,” she declaims, railing against the oppression found in archaic systems where women are deprived of education, fundamental freedoms and exposed to violence. “Everyone, repeat after us…”

Swaken is eleven tracks that spark and pulse with kinetic, pedal-to-the-metal energy. Ancient-to-future music, rooted as much in psychedelic blues, funk and rock as in the trancey, propulsive rhythms of northern Africa’s Maghreb: Gnawa, Amazigh, Hassani and Houara music.

Swaken, released on 10 May 2024, available on Blue Vinyl / CD / Digital

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Swaken

Bab L’ Bluz

Released 10 May 2024

Welcome to the world of Swaken, the second album by French-Moroccan power quartet, Bab L' Bluz. Recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire, England, written partly in Morocco — the birthplace of frontwoman Yousra Mansour — and mostly across a world tour that took them from Adelaide, Barcelona and New York to Essaouira in Morocco, Lomé in Togo and Dougga in Tunisia. Eleven tracks that spark and pulse with kinetic, pedal-to-the-metal energy.

By Online Editor

Main image: Yousra Mansour from Bab L' Bluz. Photo credit:

Published on Fri, 08 March 24

Track of the day: ‘AmmA’ by Bab L’ Bluz

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Bab L’ Bluz KEXP Session

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