It is primarily the story of an encounter between two singular musicians belonging to two totally different musical worlds. Azouz Soudani (guembri) and Olivier Owen (guitar) met in 2002 in Essaouira, and since then they have not left each other. Unexpected meeting that nothing foreshadowed, as Olivier Owen suggests: "This music was not in my strings. I was walking the streets of Essaouira the first time and I could not stand it. In fact I did not understand it. A real conversion: Olivier Owen once heard his young son humming an unknown tune "Buga Buga Bulila ...". Interested in the musicality, he wanted to know who had taught him that air. It was Maâlem Azouz Soudani. "I entered the room. There was an old dilapidated guembri and a detuned child's guitar. Azouz seized the first and me the second. At the first note I knew he was playing and vice versa. At once we each went to get our respective instruments, without having to pronounce a single word. We understood each other (...) From the beginning, Azouz came to my house every day with his guembri. He did not speak French, and I did not understand what he wanted. He had before me aware of what we could do together (....) I had the idea of bringing the Gnawa rhythms some electronic loops, but I did not know how to do it .. One day, Azouz heard an electro disc at home. His guembri was perfectly tuned and he never stopped playing ... And Olivier Owen ended up confessing: "It must not be by chance that everything has happened like this ... Because to tell the truth, I had before coming to Morocco dreamed one day of this music while I did not know it ... It is not a coincidence either that I invested myself so much in this long and fastidious apprenticeship, because the Gnawa are above all therapists, they heal souls. And mine was badly needed. Azouz does not say quite rightly about it: "I do not know anything about music. I make the guembri to open the eyes of people ... "
GNAWA FAMILY X offers "mixed" music, in the sense of a subtle combination of traditional repertoire and contemporary influences, giving it a modern dynamic. Thousands of hours of work over the last three years have allowed us to propose innovations that are cleverly orchestrated and measured in the respect of the Gnawa repertoire and spirit: The guitar and the guembri are marrying wonderfully, the solos and the riffs of the first 'tuning impeccably with the bass lines of the second. Texts in French and English answer the chorus of the sung base in Arabic. There is a real work of writing and musical interpretation. A young band member, Ali, raps in Arabic on Gnawa rhythms. N'Deye's voice softens the masculine tones of the five men in the band. The computer-based rhythmic accompaniment gives certain pieces an intoxicating and innovative envelope, allowing the acoustic instruments to rise and rest on a sound volume conducive to the trance. There are many attempts at fusion, including Gnawa music ... Gnawa's rhythms and tones make it easy to absorb and improvise heterogeneous musicians from a wide variety of backgrounds.
But the group GNAWA FAMILY X is more than that: the guitarist Olivier Owen, settling in Essaouira, came to immerse himself in the world of Gnawa, learning note after note part of the repertoire that only maâlems (masters) know on the fingertips. At the same time that he was acquainted with Western musical styles, Maâlem Azouz Soudani initiated what is now called the "white gnawi". The music of GNAWA FAMILY X goes well beyond the meeting-improvisation and rests on a real work of substance, ground of a much deeper and fruitful improvisation.
CONCERTS GNAWA FAMILY X is a stage group whose music calls for dance and trance. Two types of concert are proposed:
Acoustic concert or "unplugged" in small formation, which highlights the duo Guembri / Guitar in all its purity. The notes bounce from one maâlem to another, as the voices that answer each other, accomplices.
Concert with all members of the group, which gives free rein to the talents of each other. The use of a composite accompaniment on computer allows the meeting of two distinct but not so distant universes. Indeed, electronic music often borrows traditional rhythms. It is therefore interesting to take the opposite path by feeding these traditional rhythms of some electronic innovations. It's a way of closing the loop, a return to the roots at the same time as a typically "contemporary" creative experience.
OLIVIER OWEN
Born in 1960 in Nice. At the end of an American jazz school (Boston Berkeley College of Music) in 1978, this young guitarist confirmed himself towards the emerging medium of French rock. He has participated in many French and international groups: 1974: Osiris National tours, First parts of Magma, Bernard Lavilliers among others. 1979-1982: Extraballe (Warner / CBS) 3 albums including 1 sold to 100,000 albums sold and awarded the Charles Cros Prize (1980). European tours and first games of Straight Cats, The Stanglers, The Jam, etc. 1983: The Blitz (Barclay / Polygram). 2 maxi-singles: Under the Black Pavilion and the Caresses of Lüger sold to 70 000 ex. 1984: Sing Sing (EMI) After a first-film experience in Mona and Me by Patrick Grandperret (1985), whose music he composes, he returns to the stage and never leaves it again. Many trips (USA, Canada, UK) made him approach different styles of Rock Music, especially in a group Out to lunch with the drummer Billy Idol on the US East Coast. Then he went to electronic experiments, including Total Eclipse, Electric Gipsy, Psyquest until 1999. But it is in Morocco and specifically in Essaouira that a new story has begun.
MAALEM AZOUZ SUDANI
Born in 1960 in Essaouira. Third son of the famous Maâlem Hajoub Gou bani, last moqadem of the zaouïa Sidna Bilal of Essaouira, died in 1997, and who was the master of many maâlems become famous. He is with his five brothers carrying a family tradition that goes down from father to son for 400 years. His grandfather M'Barek was abducted from his home village of Chafou in Sudan, and his grandmother from Bamako in Mali. Very young, he became a member of the group of his father Maâlem Hajoub Goubani. 1993: Founding member of Tyour Gnawa Specialist of Gnawa traditional dance, he traveled the world until 2002, date of his meeting with Olivier Owen AFRICA: Mali, Togo, Niger, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast , Tunisia, Egypt EUROPE: Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, etc. France: Paris, Toulouse, La Rochelle, Grenoble, Lyon, Festival des Vieilles Charrues, Nice, Nimes, etc. AMERICA: Canada, Quebec, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro Festival) Its guembri game If the other maâlems play "the rope", it has developed a particular style by striking the rope and the skin of the guembri, giving a raw sound and hard-hitting. Azouz plays in a unique way marked by a propulsive virtuosity, a nuanced rhythmic attack and a sense of tone to any test. "He has a very groovy touch in his game, even if he does not know it! "Fun to say Olivier Owen. He continues today to train and initiate most young Souiris to the art of Gnawa, music and dance, some of which will become maalem in turn. MIRIAME adds a touch of femininity to the GNAWA FAMILY X training, also recalling that women traditionally play a leading role in Gnawa worship, while men are only auxiliary musicians.
N Dey Pauline. Backing vocals.
THE KOUYOUS Kouyou is both the secular part of the Gnawa ritual, as well as the young singers, musicians and dancers who accompany every piece of the repertoire.
RAPPEUR ALI FARCH joined the group for a year and brings hip-hop influences to the repertoire they perform in Arabic, French and English.
credits
released August 31, 2007
Azouz Sudani: Lead Vocals & Gumbri
Olivier Owen: Vocals & Guitars
Chris Kovax: Keyboards & production
N Dey Pauline: Vocals
Martial Macauley: Drums
Isham & Amin: back vocals (koyos)
Recorded in Essaouira, Lala Takerkoust & Paris
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