“Ere Mela Mela is one of those rare albums that unveils a remarkably vital pop-music style from a little-known corner of the world. The band that backs these intensely emotional, Arab-inflected and somewhat blueslike vocals uses standard Western instrumentation — two saxophones, organ, guitar, bass and drums. But the music is neither standard nor Western. These 6/8 modal tunes are examples of a truly non-tempered popular music. It has no chord changes in the Western sense and employs the microtonal melodic language of traditional Arab and African cultures. This is as hypnotic as pop music gets.”
