“Malou Dwa” means “No Cure in Sight,” and what has no cure is the world itself. BROUA look around at an age that has turned sick on them, full of betrayal, broken promises and noise, and they call it what it is: ailing, past saving. What they refuse to do is give up on it. “Aching, with no cure in sight,” runs the refrain, but the verses talk back to it, telling you to live through your art, keep your patience, follow your heart and trust that faith will patch up the rest.
The band is led by Tunisian singer and composer Wissem Ziadi, who left Tunisia for the Netherlands and draws on that move in his songs. The rest of the line-up comes from Tunisia, France, Bosnia, Syria and the Netherlands, and their name is a word Tunisian fishermen use for “straight ahead.” On “Malou Dwa” that forward push is all in the rhythm: a North African groove with the oud and Ziadi’s voice leading, the band’s jazz and Mediterranean instincts filling in behind. It is the sound they have been building since their 2024 debut Esfer, played on oud, guitar, clarinet and flute, bass, percussion and voice.
The track is the fourth single from Hor el Ensen | Walk Free, the album they have coming, cut by Nebil Ben Rejeb at Studio AMAN in Dar Allouch, Tunisia. They have taken this music around Tunisia, France, the UK and the Netherlands, with stops at Babel Music XP, Manchester Folk Festival and the Nazomerfestival along the way.
Hear “Malou Dwa” HERE