Sahara 1974

Here's a 1974 LP of "folkloric" music from the then Spanish Sahara. The LP's notes do not specify where this recording was made. The tracks feature various configurations of male and female voices, always with clapping and the tbal (kettle drum), sometimes also with a guitar or flute. Songs range from praises of the Prophet to songs of love, dance, and celebration. 

Within a few years of this recording (that is to say, after Spain relinquished the Sahara and the war between Morocco and the Polisario began), this album's artistic director Mohammed Tammy would be involved in the formation of the group Martir Luali, an explicitly political group that placed musical composition and performance in the service of raising awareness of the political situation of the Sahrawi refugees. I wonder whether any of the musicians on this album became part of the Martir Luali group.

Meanwhile, "traditional" music continues in the Sahara under Moroccan rule. The 30-disc Anthologie de la Musique Marocaine devoted 3 CDs to Chants du Sahara, featuring the artists Banat Aichata, Abba Ould Badou, and Batoul Marouani.

Grupo Chabab فرقة الشباب
Folklore Saharaui الفلكلور الصحراوي
Alhambra LP CPS 9351
1974

A1 Rachel Uld Abd El Mutaleb رجل ولد عبد المطلب
A2 Sreyba Hah اسريبا هاه
A3 Lebleida Y Chamra En Lekhal البليدة و الشمرة
B1 Trem Rem ترمرم
B2 Yalali Maglaklia يالال ماغلاك اعلي
B3 Treyetima التريتيمة
B4 Cutti Cutti كوتي كوتيكوتي كوتي  

FLAC | 320 

Sources consulted:

Mohammed Tuhami - Tami محمد التهامي - التامي . [A Journey of Contribution] مسيرة عطاء, Episode 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZI_is4Wmm8

Violeta Ruano. "Shaheed El Uali Band and Beyond: 40 Years of Resistance Music in Western Sahara". Ethnomusicology Review, February 26, 2016. https://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/content/shaheed-el-uali-band-and-beyond-40-years-resistance-music-western-sahara