'Targ' is the debut album by Bargou 08, a Tunisian band around singer and wtar player Nidhal Yahyaoui and producer/keyboardist Sofyann Ben Youssef (see also Kel Assouf). The name of the band refers to the Bargou-Valley, situated on the border between Tunisia and Algeria, and a village of the same name. It was there that Nidhal grew up and became fascinated by the unique and ancient local music traditions. Yahyaoui sings in Targ, a local dialect that is a mixture of Berber and Arabic, thus explaining the album's title. The entire album was recorded in three weeks at the Yahyaoui family home, and that apparently took improvising from time to time: bales of hay were piled up to act as acoustic baffles, and Sofyann had to operate the recording equipment with one hand while playing his Moog with the other. Apart from Nidhal's voice it's mainly the sounds of the zakra and gasba whistles which are most prominent on 'Targ'. Our favorite track? The enticing 'Dek Biya', with the aforementioned whistles going in overdrive, and the rhythm of the bendir putting the listener even further into a trance. Glitterbeat Records does it again!