This 1994 recording did not appear to garner much interest with Western audiences upon its release, but it was hugely important for the Sahrawi community. The album Tiris by the band El Wali became a cult disc for the nomadic population who have been trying to claim the independence of their land ever since it was colonised by Spain in 1975 and which has since been the subject of tension between them and their Moroccan and Algerian neighbours who also claim ownership of the land. The band deliver a decidedly direct political message over a background of pop jingles, mid-tempo rock, Oriental melismata and jerky rhythms. Political hymns (The Day of the Free Nation), demands for identity (Let Me Know Our Past), songs honouring the glory of soldiers (Long Live the Sahrawi Army) or of the prophet (Song for the Prophet) make up the tracklist. In the context of today, the dated production effects will elicit either guilty pleasure or frustration, but there is something so charming about the energy of the guitars, the richness of the melodies and the beauty of the songs which these men and women undertake with all their hearts. It’s the same feeling felt when listening to Touareg rock, or Aziza Brahim’s albums: a surge towards freedom. © Benjamin MiNiMuM/Qobuz