NIGHTS OF SAOURA

Omar Kouyate is a young griot from Conakry (Guinea). Since his childhood he plays the cora. His traditionnal repertory is influenced by several musical exchanges. With his soft and melancholy voice he sings about love and everyday life in Guinea .

The musician and one-man-orchestra Rit has won the hearts of the french public with his music and his committed lyrics. As a mix of reggae and chanson, burning anarcho-rastas and naps in the shadow of fig trees Rit's music calls for resistance and for the right to be lazy at the same time.

The first step of their common work has been made during the 13rd Nuits Métis festival in Marseille, where the meeting between kora and guitar has been very succesful. The second step in their common work is the meeting of the two musicians in the desert where Tayeb (lute) and Koumsi (violin) from Béni Abbès will join them.

Behind this simple name hides a musical adventure and one of todays finest mixtures featuring a large number of influences from the entire  Mediterranean area. Dupain keep a perfect balance between tradition and modernity and share one frequency with their hometown, the sunny Marseille.

This project is based on the meeting between Barbes.D and the algerian artists from Béni Abbès. Since 2004 several artist residencys in France and Algeria have allowed the artists to develop a rich and original repertory. The risky gamble of combining electronic music and the sacred musics of the desert has succeeded.

Es-ser are seven friends from Kenadsa, a region in south-western Algeria, where music has always been written in plural. Ben Bouziane, the leader of the Zaouia of this mining area is only one of the persons to whom the songs of Es-ser are dedicated. The music of Nass el Ghiwane with which they have grown up has become an important influence of their musical creation. Since their creation in 1983 Es-ser have released three albums. The band will enchant the listeners with their bendirs, karkabous and gangas, their poetry-filled heads and their hearts open for the simple things in life

AHELLIL is a zenete chant from the Gourara-region. Before the rise of islam known as IZELOUENE, it's spiritual lyrics mainly contained discriptions of human's and nature's beauty and numerous good deeds of men and women. Slowly, the religious influences and the philosophy of the Tariqa masters have become part of the chants. Hadj Hamou Abdelkrim use two ways of Ahellil: Accompagnied by flute and Aqelal or in Taguerabt - style with percussions on a mill and the sounds of the two-stringed Bingri.