Various Artists compilation traces the gasba into the 21st century

A new compilation gathers ten tracks from Édition Ahlem, the Oran production house Abdelkader Haci founded in 1992. 'My Heart is Dust Before Him: 21st Century Gasba from Algeria' is out now on Hive Mind, runs forty-six minutes, and four of the artists are women.

You can hear almost a century of distance in one track. The gasba is the same reed flute Cheikh Hamada was recording in 1920, the sound Béla Bartók heard in 1913, but here it mixes with drum machines, keyboard presets, and Auto-Tune.

That mix is not parody. Haci built Ahlem to sell cassettes on the street, and these tracks got made current when he let cheikhas, women inheritors of the gasba tradition, record those vocals over synths and overdubs. Vianney Sourbet assembled the set from one archive, out of print raw recordings since Ahlem's founder.