Haïra Arby's 1990 debut cassette

To mark the somewhat arbitrary milestone of this being the hundredth post to this blog, I am sharing a recording that I have enjoyed for years, Haïra Arby's first cassette, released in 1990. This cassette is unavailable at your favorite online store, or streaming service, and hasn't been reissued in any format. These tracks were recorded in Dakar, at the Studio 2000, which at the time was still located in Cité Biagui, near the old airport. [In 1996, I spent an unforgettable two days at the old Studio 2000 watching David Murray and his band lay down the tracks for this album. The highlights were sitting in the control room next to David Murray as he warmed up with an unaccompanied bass clarinet solo and getting to spend time with one of my heroes, Jamalaadeen Tacuma. I can still hear, in my mind, a blazing distorted bass solo that Tacuma laid down in one take; a longer story for another post.]

This cassette features a mostly acoustic group, with arrangements by Massamba Wele Diallo--featured on several of these recordings--and some great njarka solos by Hasseye Sarré. The most popular song on this cassette was 'Moulaye': this was the name Haïra used to refer to this release. This cassette was the first of only three that Haïra recorded and released for the West African market. The US label Clermont Music released three CDs of late-career Haïra Arby recordings. (For more information about Haïra Arby and the early years of her musical career, you can read this piece I posted ten years ago.)

Download Moulaye

Thank you to each of you who have gotten in touch over the last couple of years to express your enthusiasm for specific posts and recordings, your feedback is always encouraging. I have a lot more interesting recordings that I am still eager to share.

Enjoy!