- country:Belgium
- style(s):Andalus, Arabic
- label:Choux de Bruxelles
- artist posted by:Choux de Bruxelles
Links
This new band is nourished by both our musical
and human experience. As a matter of fact it’s
conception was very organic and not the fruit of a
mental projection, but a necessity that imposed
itself on us. We live in Brussels and what we
experience in our everyday life is diversity and
blending.
We’ve noticed that what keeps us balanced in all
that is to be the creators of our own culture. We
inherit, of course, but it’s what we do with it, that
brings it to life. That’s what Arabanda is … a
challenge. The challenge of recognizing what is
transmitted to us by making it our own.
The musical repertoire that we investigate is also
the synthesis of different worlds, centuries ago… It
travelled across generations and lands to reach us
in Brussels. It’s commonly called Arabo-Andalusian
music, a-Tarab al-Andalous. By thoroughly taking
it apart and then putting it back together while
adding our personal flavours, we make it our own
so the audience can hear who we are in relation to
this tradition. Our collaboration helps to create this
world today, where it’s important to look back, to
be able to see more clearly what lies ahead. That’s
what makes this project a necessity to us.
Or as Moroccan/Belgian singer Laïla Amezian put it
in an interview: Our culture is no longer one of
falling between two chairs. It’s a blend of both
cultures. But our children will not perceive it as
such. To them it will be their culture, as a whole
and they won’t realise it’s the coming together of
two very different worlds.
