Jamal ould Abba

Jamal ould Abba was born into two of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania’s great musical families.  He is the first child of Seddoum ould Abba and Mint Didi mint Hemed Vall.  He was born in 1966, in the Brakna region of southern Mauritania, at the health center in Guimi Rek, located 30 kms from the town of Mokhtarjar, where his mother went to give birth close to her brothers.

  

Several months after he was born, his father, Seddoum, brought his wife and newborn son back to Rachid, in the Taganit region, where they lived until Jamal was five years old.  In 1972, the Ehel Abba (Abba clan) moved to Nouakchott, both Seddoum and his brother Cheikh brought their families to the capital city.  They settled in Ilot Abattoir, the neighborhood that came to be known as Medina Sidaty, after their oldest brother Sidaty ould Abba.  Seddoum enrolled his children in school and encouraged them to study.  Jamal did his elementary  schooling at the école 5, then went to middle school at the college des garcons.  For high school, he went to the lycée nationale, where he earned, in 1987, his  Bac D - a baccalaureate degree in natural sciences.

Jamal’s formal education was complimented by his musical education.  He was taught by his father, mother, and extended family.  Like many artists of his generation who grew up in Nouakchott, Jamal did not learn the tidinitt (lute) repertoire of shwar (melodies).  He trained on the guitar.  By his early teens, Jamal was accompanying his father and uncles for performances in and around Nouakchott.  He had mastered the repertoire of faster dance tunes (like the famous Jakwar melody composed by his father’s cousin Jeich ould Abba) that his uncles didn’t know how to play.  Jamal recently told me the story of one such evening.  His uncle, Sidaty ould Abba, called on Jamal and asked him to accompany him to a nadwiya (invitation) later that same evening.  Jamal declined, explaining that he had a school examination the following day.  Sidaty told him, ‘forgot school, I need you to play Jakwar for me’.


Jamal performing in high school with his father Seddoum ould Abba. To the right of his father is the great singer Siktou mint Hemed Vall, and Jamal's sister Garmi mint Abba

The biggest early influence on Jamal was his paternal uncle Cheikh ould Abba.  Jamal’s mother passed away in 1977, when he was eleven years old, and whenever his father travelled, Jamal would stay with his uncle Cheikh.  Like his cousin Dimi mint Abba, and Seddoum and Khalife ould Eide (his brothers in law—Seddoum is married to Jamal’s sister Garmi), Jamal was particularly influenced by Cheikh’s melodic singing.  ‘Sidaty (ould Abba) had a more powerful voice than Cheikh, but Sidaty’s style was too difficult.  We just couldn’t sing like Sidaty, whereas we could approximate the smoother vocal stylings of Cheikh’, Jamal told me.

Jamal started to accept invitations to perform solo in 1981, when he was 15 years old.  He made his first television appearance in 1985, while still in high school, performing with his brother Sidaty.  He recorded a second television program in 1988 and a third in 1996, appearing on the popular program ‘Sahret a Chaar’, or ‘la soirée du mois’, recorded at Nouakchott’s maison des jeunes.  These programs were recorded and aired at a time when the national television was the sole broadcaster in the country, before the introduction of satellite channels from the Middle East or the competition of private Mauritanian television channels.  A time when to appear on television was to be a national star.

After graduating from high school, Jamal wanted to continue his studies. And in the fall of 1990, after a three year break, he went to Paris, where he spent a month unsuccessfully trying to enroll in the university.  Disappointed, Jamal left Paris and travelled to Tunisia and Algeria, visiting Mauritanian students and performing for them.  From Algiers he flew on to Burkina Faso, where after a few days he decided to continue on to the Republic of the Congo, where he was welcomed by the large Mauritanian community (mostly small traders).  Jamal bought himself a new electric guitar in Brazzaville and performed for Mauritanians in the capital and in Pointe Noire.  From Brazzaville he next flew to the Cote D'Ivoire, where he was welcomed by the even larger Mauritanian community in Abidjan.  After a series of performances in Abidjan, Jamal returned to Mauritania.

Seddoum ould Eide, Jamal ould Abba, Mohammed ould Choueikh on guitar.  
 
On his return to Nouakchott, in late 1990, Jamal decided to make a life in music.  In 1991, he took his first trip north to the Moroccan Sahara, where he started to build a network of patrons in the growing towns of Dakhla and Laayoune.

Jamal has remained popular in Morocco, and continues to travel regularly to the Moroccan Sahara.  Jamal has also followed the Mauritanian diaspora to Europe, the Middle East, and North America, performing in Spain, France, and the United Arab Emirates.  In recent years, he has taken five trips to the USA. The first in 2001, where he performed in Virginia and New York City, with return trips in 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2017.  Each trip he has travelled the same circuit, between Mauritanian communities in New York City, Virginia, Ohio, and, in more recent years, Louisiana.  In October 2010, Jamal also travelled to Canada, where he performed in Montreal at the invitation of a Mauritanian restaurateur.

Download Jamal ould Abba - Hawl

This undated cassette (my guess is early 2000s) is a nice recording of Jamal performing Hawl, an evening of songs and poems for close listening.  This recording is a good example of his style and musical heritage, of the ways he has internalized the influences of his uncle Cheikh, and of Seddoum and Khalifa ould Eide—casual listeners often have a hard time distinguishing Jamal’s voice from Seddoum’s.  He is accompanied by ardin (11 string harp, played exclusively by women) and his electric guitar.

When I spoke to Jamal earlier this month he lamented that this style of meditative music has been overtaken by the bang and crash of the Nouakchott wedding circuit; loud music performed on crappy sound systems, with frenetic percussion, spiky keyboards and snarling guitars, making it hard for the singer to even hear himself.  ‘In the 1990s and early 2000s,’ Jamal told me, ‘I would get forty to fifty invitations a year to perform Hawl.  Today, I may get two a year’.  

Jamal ould Abba in Manhattan, 2017.  

Two of my most loved Mauritanian cultural artifacts feature Jamal ould Abba.

This first video is one of the most magical documents of Mauritanian music that I have come across.  This video was shot under a khaima (nomadic tent) in August, 1989, in the camp of Legreifa (sp?), located 10 kms outside of Kiffa (in southeastern Mauritania).  Seddoum ould Abba, his son Jamal and his daughter Bi'elezza, had, as many Mauritanians do during the rainy season, fled to the badia (the countryside) to escape the heat, flooding, and grime of Nouakchott.  In the early afternoon they started to perform for a few friends.  A passing shepherd, attracted by the music, ducked under the tent and spent the afternoon with them (there is a close angle sequence of him at minute 23).  If you are at all interested in Mauritanian music, take a half hour and watch this video!! 

   
This second video was shot, in 1998, by Omar of India Video--he was the go-to wedding videographer of the 1990s and early 2000s--in Zouerate, the iron mining town in northern Mauritania.  Jamal was invited, with Seddoum ould Eide, to perform for a small gathering of friends celebrating a wedding.  Here is a short segment of the video.  The entire film isn't available on YouTube.  I have a VHS copy of the entire performance that I will upload to YouTube once I get it transferred.

  

I don't know of a better way to spend an evening.
 
Drift away....