- country:France
- style(s):Electronic, Fusion
- label:Doublmeoon Records
- artist posted by:Pozitif Muzik A.S
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Tunisian-born Frenchman Smadj spent his youth as a jazz guitarist soaking up the Parisian jazz scene. After 10 years of touring as a member of various bands, Smadj began to draw crowds of his own into the smoke-filled, hazy bars of Paris for his unconventional amalgamation of jazz with Eastern, African, and Latin grooves. Christening this brand of jazz as “Tatoum”, Smadj went on to jam with French band Faudel and Fela Kuti's drummer Tony Allen. Smadj emerged from the success of “Tatoum” to become even more of a musical innovator, gaining critical acclaim for his idiosyncratic fusion of jazz with contemporary electronic music, Smadj draws from the sounds and experiences of his unique cultural background when seducing ‘jazz-tastic’ sounds from his guitar, Oud, and laptop computer.
Being first and foremost an instrumentalist, for Smadj mixing it up with electronic grooves and samples is all about letting the music and his hugely talented collaborators shine through. Laying down drum’n’bass, tribal, funky and disco grooves as he so expertly does, Smadj gets Istanbul’s virtuosos to do their stuff—Orhan Osman on always-going-to-sound-Greek Bouzouki, Savas Zyrbacu (Trakya All Stars) on Clarinet and Smadj himself on acoustic and electric Oud all get the chance to show off their wares—real music rooted in ancient styles—resulting in a groovy Turkish (going Balkan), Greek and North African pot of delights garnished with samples and electronic effects. What the great Zyriab himself might have done with a laptop and the musicians he met on his travels…