The lines between Middle Eastern music and jazz are there to be drawn. Ornette Coleman has played with the Master Musicians of Joujouka, and Pharoah Sanders recorded an album with Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, of the Gnawa tribe. Now, Moroccan vocalist Malika Zarra is arriving at this crossroads from the opposite direction, infusing the music of her native culture with jazz. Her self-released debut CD, On The Ebony Road, mixes rhythms from chaâbi, Berber and Gnawa music with jazzy improvisation and smooth, seductive vocals.
Both jazz and Middle Eastern music view improvisation, and particularly the ability to let the song carry you where it wants to go, as crucial.”When I started music, I decided to study at a jazz school, “ says Zarra, “because I thought, in terms of Occidental music, this is the one that has also this improvisation space like in Middle Eastern music.” Her band , composed of French/Swiss guitarist Francis Jacob, Moroccan multi-instrumentalist Brahim Fribgane, Senegalese bassist Mamadou Ba and Surinamese drummer Harvey Wirht, has an intuitive communication that can only come from long-term gigging and jamming.
Zarra’s soft, birdlike voice is ably supported by rhythmically supple grooves, whether she’s singing in English, French or Moroccan. “I sing in three languages because I’m trying to make people understand what I’m saying,” Zarra explains. “When I write in English, first I think in French then I translate and I ask my friend to correct my lyrics. In Moroccan dialect, usually I write directly in this language. “Ultimately, though, the sound of the human voice, cushioned by sympathetic instrumentalists, needs no translation.
Phil Freeman – GLOBAL RHYTHM
That Good Ol' African-European-Middle Eastern-American Jazz
World fusion is entering the next stage in the jazz idiom—one in which the geographical scope expands, both in the music and on the bandstand. Eugene Marlow writes below about Moroccan-born and Paris-raised vocalist Malika Zarra, who performed recently at Le Poisson Rouge with her band whose members hail from Switzerland, New York and Suriname. No wonder she describes her music as “a blend of North/South, East/West, African/Arab and Europe/American.” T.G.
Jazz is global. Starting in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century, within a few years one could find jazz (as we understand in our current context) practically all over the world, including Europe and China. Today, jazz can be heard all over the planet (except perhaps North Korea), from Russia, to South America, Australia, Japan, and South Africa.
What’s more, the internationalism of jazz has come full circle. In New York City, for example, in the last year alone Baruch College’s Milt Hinton Jazz Perspectives concert series hosted a panoply of jazz performers with non-American jazz-root passports: Indian-born jazz guitarist Rez Abassi, Italian-born chanteuse Roberta Gambarini, and Columbian-born jazz harpist Edmar Castaneda. Each performer brought to their respective performances a strong dose of their social and musical roots.
Other examples abound. Last Friday night at the refurbished Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street) in New York City Moroccan-born Malika Zarra shared her own multi-cultural, eclectic musical vision of world jazz.
From the moment she stepped on the stage, despite the awkward, self-conscious rock-concert like lighting provided by the Le Poisson Rouge stage crew, Ms. Zarra became a focus of rapt attention. Her exotic physical presence, her engaging eyes especially, brought the audience into her musical world. Saying little by way of introduction, she began to sing. It did not matter whether she explained the meaning of the songs or not. It did not matter that she sang completely original songs in several languages—Berber, Moroccan Arabic, classical Arabic, French and one in English—the presentation was always interesting, always musical, always compelling. It was clear from the start that this 75-minute was not going to include the usual repertoire from the American songbook.
Moreover, there was a tone to the performance that was definitely not American-as-usual. In more than a few moments, the feel of the show was more European than American. There was a sophistication to the presentation that said loud and clear: “Not made in America.” It made for a fresh performance.
The all-original, mostly foreign language lyrics contributed, certainly, to this impression. But it was also the music. None of it was straight ahead in the conventional American sense. It was, on the other hand, a mixture of jazz elements, but you could also hear the Middle-Eastern scale influences, with generous dollops of funk, blues, and fusion. And none of it was a reference here or a reference there. It was a well-proportioned and seasoned blend.
Zarra’s musicians, as well, added to the seamless blend of cultures. Her pianist, Manu Koch, is from Switzerland. Electric bassist Brad Jones is from New York City, and drummer Harvey Wirht, is from Suriname, described by some as a South American multicultural paradise. These were all excellent players in their own right who knew how to work with Ms. Zarra to produce a culturally seamless performance.
This multi-culturism is no accident. According to her bio, Ms. Zarra was born in Southern Morocco, in a little village called Ouled Teima. Her father's family was originally from M'Hamid, an oasis just off the Sahara, while her mother was a Berber from the High Atlas. During her early childhood, there was always music and dancing in the house and Malika sang almost from babyhood. After her family immigrated to a suburb of Paris, she found herself straddling two very different societies. “I had to be French at school yet retain my Moroccan cultural heritage at home,” she recalls
Malika’s interest in music led her to take up the clarinet in grade school. Meanwhile, she was exposed to a wide variety of musical styles. She cites fellow Moroccan Chiha Hamdaouia, the Lebanese-born, Egyptian-based ud virtuoso/composer Farid el Atrache, and Algerian-French singer Warda (Al-Jazairia) as major influences. She also absorbed albums by Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby McFerrin, Thelonious Monk, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin. Although her family was not in favor of her pursuing a musical career, Malika nonetheless attended classes at conservatories and jazz academies at Tours and Marseille in France and studied privately with Sarah Lazarus and Françoise Galais.
During her apprentice phase, during which she became a fixture in France and on the Paris scene, Malika performed at a variety of well-known clubs and events, including Festival L’esprit Jazz de St Germain, Sunside, Baiser Salé, Hot Brass, Espace Julien, Pelle Mêle and Cité de la Musique. In the beginning, she interpreted classic material strictly in the original languages -- then a breakthrough occurred. “When I started to sing in Arabic, writing new lyrics for jazz standards, I found people reacted really strongly. There is always more emotion when you sing in your own language because your feelings are more intense.”
I asked Ms. Zarra what was at the center of her performance. She replied: “I grew up in a Arabic/Berber traditional family in France. Naturally, my music is a blend of North/South, East/West, African/Arab and Europe/American. Also, since my younger days I faced tensions and segregation. I’ve always believed that music is a powerful tool for peace and to show how different cultures have adapted and borrowed from each other—how they are interrelated. I see myself challenging the separation between East/West, Europe/America, Africa/Middle-East. I enjoy being all these things at the same time.” From the performance at Le Poisson Rouge it appears Malika has successfully integrated her various cultural heritages.
Furthermore, Ms. Zarra, like many other successful singers, also knows how to bring an audience into the performance. In addition to dancing in a very traditional Arabic manner while her musicians are improvising, on several occasions, particularly in the second half of the set, she invited the audience to clap to the pulse of the songs. Towards the end of the set she even attempted to teach the audience a vamp in Arabic. In this instance, the device was not as successful as it could have been, not because of the spoken sounds but because of the rhythmic pattern of the line. It was a bit too syncopated for the audience listening that night.
Nonetheless, Ms. Zarra is a singer who can write compelling melodies and lyrics. She knows how to arrange them for small ensemble. She knows how to pick musicians to play with who fit her musical aesthetic. She knows how to arrange a set that reaches a climactic moment at just the right time. Most importantly, she has learned how to blend various musical cultural traditions into a weave that makes sense and engages the ear for an extended period of time. All in all, it makes for an entertaining and multicultural experience.
Eugene Marlow - JAZZ.COM Read it online - http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2009/7/27/that-good-ol-african-european-middle-east-american-jazz
Moroccan born, and raised in France, Malika Zarra makes her debut with ON THE EBONY ROAD. Employing all the flavors of her native continent. Zarra and her ensemble deliver a world music album of soothing and sultry rhythms buoyed by modal, Eastern grooves. Singing in English, French, and Arabic, her band traffics in North African rhythms and melodies. Akin to a world music version of Sade, Zarra will likely find an audience in tune with her talents. Troy Collins – CADENCE
Malika Zarra's debut release, On the Ebony Road, digs deep into jazz
idioms, but the Morrocan-born Zarra still conveys a strong sense of her North
African roots through the vocals and arrangements. The instrumentation is
simple: guitar, bass, drums, and percussion (including dumbek and cajon).
Percussionist Brahim Fribgane also adds oud on some tracks.
All
this is support for Zarra's slinky vocals, which weave in and out of the music,
her voice another instrument rather than something bobbing atop them like a cork
on water. After hearing Zarra's strong contribution to Richard Khuzami's recent
album
Fused,
it's a delight to hear her immersed in her own musical atmosphere. Fans of
Susheela Raman and Natacha Atlas, or those looking for something like them but
leaning a bit more toward jazz, should be sure to check out this strong debut.
SOUNDROOTS – World Music
...Malika Zarra’s “On the Ebony Road”. This Moroccan lass honed her craft at
home in North Africa, in Paris, and continues to do so in New Jersey, USA, where
she currently resides. Zarra’s mixture of native Berber and English tunes, and a
sultry, seductive jazz-influenced delivery puts her in a unique category. It’s a
very impressive CD and should place her in a good position for further
“world-jazz” adventures. Tunes such as ‘Run’, ‘Joky Heart’, ‘Mchina’ also bring
out the talents of drummer Harvey Wirht and oud player Brahim Fribgane... John
Stevenson - Ejazz ...Zarra is captivating, with a soft voice and a hushed style
of scat-singing that makes her sound as if she is casting spells... Sanjoy Roy -
The Guardian ... Vocalist Malika Zarra’s rich, sonorous tones and lithe
musicality... Lyndsey Winship - The Stage Acabo de descubrir a la cantante
marroquí
Malika Zarra. Lo que más me ha impresionado es la fusión de
instrumentos como el oud y las percusiones tradicionales del magreb con la
batería y el bajo, a la vez que su extraordinaria técnica vocal sobrevuela los
temas incluidos en su nuevo álbum
On the ebony road.
Además Malika se rodea de excelentes
músicos;
Mamadou Ba (bajo) y
Brahim Fribgane (oud, darbuka, percusiones y arreglos);
Francis Jacob (guitarra acústica y eléctrica) ;
Harvey Wirth (batería)
Canta en francés, inglés
y su natal árabe marroquí, a la vez que dibuja su canto sobre el Bereber y los
sonidos y los ritmos de Gnawa que ella oyó de niña como inmigrante en los
suburbios de París.
Malika se revela como una cantante y
compositora que puede estar dentro de la élite de las músicas del mundo y del
jazz. Habrá que seguir su carrera muy atentamente.
Jorge Rodríguez – Crisol de Musicas
Malika Zarra, du Maroc à New York
Sur la planète musicale marocaine émergent des talents originaux, tels l’auteur-compositeur Malika Zarra, installée à New York. L’originalité de cette artiste qui vient de sortir son premier album, On the ebony road (www.cdbaby.com), est d’être l’une des rares femmes instrumentistes et compositeur. Entre standards de jazz et compositions personnelles interprétés en français, arabe et anglais, elle symbolise ce mélange de passion, de fluidité et de chaleur caractérisant la nouvelle vague du « jazz oriental »… Sylvie Clerfeuille – RFI / MFO
Malika Zarra se produit à Washington
L’artiste marocaine Malika Zarra a animé un concert, récemment à Washington, dans le cadre de la 9ème édition du festival du mois de la francophonie, lancé le 26 février dans la capitale fédérale américaine. Mêlant jazz et musique traditionnelle marocaine, Malika Zarra, auteur, compositeur et interprète, chante en arabe, en français et en anglais, proposant au public des mélodies exotiques et originales.
Puisant dans l’héritage de sa culture marocaine, musiques Chaabi, amazigh et Gnawa, l’artiste, qui possède «une voix de velours» selon les critiques, a présenté des sonorités donnant la mesure de la richesse d’une identité plurielle, symbole d’une rencontre de l’Orient et l’Occident. L’artiste dit elle-même être une sorte de «caméléon multiculturel» qui change et passe sans efforts d’une langue et d’une culture à une autre, les unissant et les utilisant pour les enrichir l’une l’autre.
Vivant actuellement à New-York où elle s’est imposée rapidement dans le milieu du Jazz et de la World Music, Malika Zarra est parvenue à se faire connaître comme une artiste de la nouvelle vague du «jazz oriental».
MAP / AUJOURD’HUI LE MAROC - Le 26-03-2009
Malika Zarra, Moroccan
vocalist, was a wonderful ambassador for her country’s music, and she was
joined by Francis Jacob on acoustic and electric guitar, Brahim Fribgane on
oud, cajón, dumbek, kerkabou, and bendir, and Mamadou Ba on bass. She sang
in native Moroccan, French, and English, with a healthy dose of scat. The
music was similar to Afro-Caribbean, Flamenco, and Greek genres, with exotic
percussion, and vocal dynamics that intensified as the evening grew late.
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
"Malika Zarra's voice is like a gentle sigh of Zephyr in a hot Moroccan
night. It awakes the deepest feelings of love and harmony. Even the hidden
desires of a burning passion. It reminds the mellow blending of oriental
flavors and western anxiety of a Cole Porter song: It brings back a
night of tropical splendor...
Once you've heard her sweet spell, you're bewitched forever."
Enzo Capua
…”I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it !
It’s really refreshing to hear music that is genuinely pure and straight
from the heart which is how music is coming off here in my opinion.
I really like your sound, sense of time and phrasing”…
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