Stories

My trip to pareidolia festival

Invited by Coco Tulum and Pareidoia Ibiza Sonica, I had a stay in Tulum, Mexico
My trip started with an event at Tulum Art on March 8, which involved a screening of the Walila film trailer followed by a discussion with filmmaker Reed Rickert and I about the making of the film and the music album. Walila is a short film about my Moroccan experience last year and it explores my music making process. Following the discussion I also performed a brief demo showcase.

The D Day was on March 12.
Coco Tulum is located on the beach and you are on the white sand facing the range of blue color between the sea and
the sky  in the middle of the tropical vegetation.

After Luka Takon’s dj set I started my live mix at 7p.m. with a  huge orange full moon rising up the Caribbean Sea.
It was magical…

After my 1 hour performance with a lot good vibes the screening of Walila began.
The audience reacted very well and I would like to thank again everybody there for their warm support.

Walila was also screened at Boheme, a very active cultural center in Tulum.
It was a nice event that included first a screening of Walila followed by a screening of The Third Root directed by Reed Rickert. This a feature film that follows Mexican musician Camilo Nu on a journey to explore the relationship between Mexican, Spanish and Moroccan Music.

The day after I also had an interesting interview with Mandeep of Radio Tulum.
We talked about my career in music as well as my current projects.

I also connected with local musicians and notably Camilo Nu an amazing guitarist playing Flamenco as well as Django Reinhardt style and also more contemporary music styles.

I had a lot of fun in Tulum and encountered many great people.
I loved it!!

Collaborating with Jack Casady

A few months ago I was contacted by sound engineer and producer Stacy Parrish  (T-Bone Burnett,  Robert Plant/Alison Krauss) asking me if I were available for collaborating with Jack Casady for his new album project.
I felt very honoured that a rock and roll star like Jack Casady would think of me for making some tunes with him!
 Jack Casady is the legend bass player of the 60’s  Californian cult bands:: Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship.
 During his incredible career he jammed with Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead and so many famous musicians of the sixties / seventies.
So I accepted the invitation and I just came back of a 10 days stay recording with Jack and Stacy at Jack’s studio located at Jersey UK.
Jack is a great young man of more 70 years old with an incredible energy.
He explained to me that he would like to explore and play the bass in new musical dimensions.
I brought with me some electronic equipment and guitars.
We spent time to create some electronic soundscapes and improvising bass and guitar.
Yair Dalal joined us for the recordings in the final days.
Yair is a very talented violin and oud player.
It was an amazing meeting of 3 musicians coming from such different musical universes.
In the strange landscape of Jersey a kind of magic happened.
The wind of Inspiration was favorable and we recorded some good ideas.
Back in my studio, I continue the producing work.
There is no agenda and our goal is to achieve Jack’s project the best way possible.

At the suggestion of French Institute of Fès and his Director M Christophe Steyer: I’m invited to participate at Sacred Music Festival of Fès, Morocco, 2016 edition.

My performance will take place at Bab Boujloud on May 10, 2016.

This project involves several steps with the goal to create a new music blending electro beats and sounds with the  instruments of Moroccan Traditional Music.

I began the project by a 10 days stay at Fès.

With the support of the Music Conservatory, i’ve recorded the musicians of Orchestre Arabo Andalou de Fès, the oldest orchestra in the genre over the area.

The recordings sessions have continued at Dar Batha, a riad belonging to the French Institute located in the medina.
With the help of Abderrahim Amrani, director of the Confrérie Soufie des Hamadcha, I recorded many traditional Moroccan instruments.

I’ve ended my stay by playing a Livemix in a gorgeous venue Sahrai: a partner of French Institute.
This luxuary designed hotel, directed by M Guillaume Binder, offers a superb view on the medina.
The simultaneous vernissage of the collective art show of the artists Remed, Sébastien Preschoux and Morran Ben Lachen give the event a special vibe.

During my last day, I visited antique Roman town Volubilis as I discovered stunning landscapes.

I’m now back home in my studio located in the French country side and I’m starting the second step composing a 30/40 mns of music.
A 6 weeks production time is short regarding my production habits but give this beautiful project more exciting.

Back to Morocco I finally performed my livemix at the Music Sacred Festival of Fes

The film Walila, a 19 minute documentary, directed by filmmaker Reed Rickert highlights a different stage of my music making process. You follow me through my Morocco experience, get a look at the creative undertaking of composing electronic music in my studio in France, and as the film builds to the final live performance of the album at the Festival of Sacred Music of Fes.

I arrived in Aleppo at 8 p.m. It takes 4 hours to arrive by car from Damascus.  Soon arrived I had a meeting with Leila Tambe. I always set up recording sessions in far countries before arriving.  Sometimes it takes months. The recordings sessions at Aleppo were organized by Leila and she also has helped me to select singers and musicians I needed.

So after a dinner and conversation she proposed to drive me directly to the Maestro studio. There I met the owner Samir Kwefati.

It was 1 a.m. . Without a problem, I’m very used and comfortable to make music late at night as my ears are in a better shape! We first recorded Ara Tengerian, a Duduk player. Duduk is traditional woodwind instrument of Armenian origins.

Later we recorded Abud Shamon , a musician who plays all Middle East percussions and notably the Daf.

It was 4 am and we decided to end up and to continue at 10 in the morning.
 After a short rest in the Artist Residency of Aleppo , a very nice place just beside the Citadel, I was ready to go.

Samir studio is a great place set up at the last floor of a building with an incredible view of Aleppo.

That day we started recordings with Mayada Bselis a famous female Syrian singer.

We continued with Mahmoud Kualdi a bouzouk player. Bouzouk is a stringed instrument.

It was 2 pm when we stopped. Samir had to live.  When I travel and record I have my laptop wich is my portable studio. I can record everywhere at any time : just always ready to catch opportunities.  After visiting the Lost Cities close to Aleppo, I went back to the Artist Residency. I recorded Mizgin Tahir a great female Kurdish singer and Mehmûd Berazi who plays the Tambur which is very similar to Bouzouk.

The next day I visited the antique city of Apame and the ruins of Saint Simeon Monastery. Syria is an amazing crossroad of many Cultures such as Mesopotamian , Greek , Roman, Persian and vestiges of Crusaders.

Later refugees from Armenia, Palestine and Irak settled down in Syria . There are also many reigions; Muslims , Christians , Orthodox , Zoroastrians ….etc
The country is full of antique and modern stories.

My last recording was Rena Derkhorenian at the French Cultural centre. I remember it was a strange place for recording the beautiful voice of Rena.

I have had a great time to record all these great musicians and encountering nice and true people . I’ll never forget Sabine and Nour who took me for a great visit to Damascus by night.

Recording Sessions at Cairo, Egypt

A few years ago I organized the Cairo recordings sessions.
It’s a fascinating city with 20 millions people living in the middle of the desert. It is great in summertime even though it’s very hot and there’s big traffic jams, the Nile River crosses the town and brings fresh air.
Cairo’s history is huge.
So many things to discover: the fascinating pyramids, the beautiful mosques, the Egyptian antiquities museum, the Copt quarter…
The life in the streets is intense. With thousands of shops and craftsmen, the activity in the city is incredible.
I started my recordings in a venue named “Makan”. That’s really a typical place where the owner is also organizing concerts preserving the traditional music of Egypt.

The Cairo music scene is rich with many great musicians and I’ve recorded some of them, notably the Zar band Mazaher.
The “Zar” is a very ancient ritual dance of possession coming from Sudan and Ethiopia. This tradition has become a bit taboo and this unique style is disappearing. This music has a really outstanding power and energy.
I was really lucky to record this and notably the lead female singer of Mazaher.

I started The Cairo recordings sessions at Makan with Amin Ibrahim Aly who is playing the “arghoul”. People say: that instrument has existed since the pharaonic period.

I’ve used an arghoul sample in “Agabat” on the album “Travel Impressions”. I also recorded Hassan Hamidou who plays m’rababa (typical Egyptian violin) and the male singer Sayed Iman.

After this, I did my recordings at the Yacubian building. That’s an incredible place, which gave its name to the Egyptian movie “Yacubian Building”; a beautiful movie that I highly recommend. This building is a 1930’s luxury apartment building with so much old fashion charm and vibrations.

Philippe Dib, who is living there, is a talented musician playing the pentam, canun and many percussions.

Philippe has invited some friends, among them Ahmed Oman (who plays the oud) and the incredible male singer Hany Adel.

I’m always happy to reminisce about Egypt. It is a unique place with multiple landscapes. The western oasis: Siwa, Dakhla, the White Desert, the Sinai Peninsula, the Red Sea Riviera… A great place to visit!!