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On her new solo album, Embrace the Spirit (Milan), Nawal delivers a powerful one-woman meditation that salutes the recent uprisings in the Middle East and the human desire for freedom and peace. Based in Paris but hailing from the Comoros (islands off the southeast coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean), the singer supports her own husky incantations with frame drums, mbira, and gambusi (a banjolike Swahili lute). Her most recent album with a backing group, 2007’s Aman(Nawali), features much of the same instrumentation, and the gorgeous music—more melodic, rhythmic, and celebratory than her intensely solemn solo work—reflects the complex culture of the Comoros, which feels the pull of both Africa and Asia. 09/15/11
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