Review
Genre and Mood
Hindi Zahra’s Imik si mik (Remastered Version) sits where world music, folk and jazz meet: it starts in a Berber language and, in the words of the Daily News Egypt, goes without pause into typical jazz lyrics. Soulful and warm are this page’s words for a song whose title promises patience; no review describes its mood more closely.
Song Summary
Imik Si Mik means Little by Little, according to the Daily News Egypt, which interviewed Zahra in 2010. Wikipedia notes that while her songs are mostly in English, this one has lyrics in Shilha, the Berber language of the Souss family she comes from. It is the seventh track of her debut album Handmade, which came out in January 2010 on Blue Note, and it was issued that year as a promotional CD single. The Discogs listing of that promo credits the music to Zahra and Thomas Naïm, the words to Zahra, and the production, arrangement and mix to Zahra alone.
Musical Breakdown
No source describes the song section by section. What the sources do describe is its one decisive move, from one language into another.
Intro
The song opens in Shilha. Listen to the opening lines before the language changes.
Main Section
Zahra goes from the Berber lines into what the Daily News Egypt called typical jazz lyrics, without a pause: the turn is the song’s identity. Listen for the exact moment it happens.
Outro
No source describes the ending. On the promo single the song ran 3:40; the album and remastered versions run close to four minutes.
Concepts in Focus
The title of this version names remastering. The remaster appeared in 2011 on the bonus-track edition of Handmade, and Deezer lists it with its own recording code, FR9W10907802, separate from the 2010 release; MusicBrainz lists only the original recording. A remaster prepares the finished recording again for release, adjusting loudness, tonal balance and dynamics; the performance and the arrangement stay as they were.
What it leaves alone is the mixing, and here the mix was Zahra’s own: the promo single credits her as producer, arranger and mixer. According to its notes, the song was recorded at Charonne’s Home and Studio La Seine in 2008 and 2009, and the 2010 release was mastered by Simon Davey at The Exchange in London.
Artistic Context
Hindi Zahra was born in Khouribga, Morocco, in 1979, into a family of Berber Chleuh artists from the Souss, and moved to Paris at fifteen. Handmade won the Prix Constantin in November 2010 and the Victoires de la Musique for world music album in February 2011, and its opening track is Hindi Zahra – Beautiful Tango (Remastered Version).
Impact and Reception
French Wikipedia lists Imik Si Mik among her singles of 2010, and Handmade sold more than 135,000 copies. The song is here for its turn between languages, which is also a turn between traditions. Listen to it from the first line, little by little.
