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Majid Bekkas
Majid Bekkas, Nguyên Lê, Hamid Drake: Boom Boom
by Ludovico Granvassu
At a time of daunting provincialism and tribal regression, jazz remains one of the few welcoming oases for the globally minded. If you're one of then, enjoy this track, feauturing a Moroccan oud and guembri player--and vocalist--Majid Bekkas, a Franco Vietnamese guitarist, Nguyen Le, and a living legend of the Chicago scene like drummer Hamid Drake, playing in Germany--at the Berlin Philarmonie--a cover of John Lee Hooker's “Boom Boom"--just one of the many highlights from their latest album, ...
Continue ReadingMajid Bekkas: Mabrouk
by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
Bekkas is a leading Gnawa musician who sings and plays the oud, as well as acoustic guitar and guembri, the three-stringed bass-like instrument that provides the trance-inducing pulse of Gnawa music. The Gnawa, in turn, are spiritual brotherhoods formed in Morocco among slaves brought there from sub-Saharan Africa over the centuries. Bekkas has collaborated with a number of jazz players, including saxophonist Archie Shepp, pianist Joachim Kuhn and drummer Hamid Drake, concentrating on the more adventurous end of the jazz ...
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