“Composed on the road, I was touring like crazy with DuOuD, I wanted this al-bum in a chill-out mood , the kind of music you put on the Cd player of your car and you can drive repeating it during hours; it was nice to have on board Tal-vin Singh and Rokia Traore among others…”

When Tunisian Laptops Meet Bushmen, Tablas, and a Malian Songstress: Smadj Plucks Digits like the Strings of an Oud. Paris-based Tunisian musician Smadj did not realize that the elements of his latest album, Take It and Drive (on Rasa Music), became the perfect formula for a one-hour drive. Hav-ing conquered the sequencer, mastered the sampler, and tamed the synthesizer, he was ready for a new challenge.

“All the electronics on the album are the fruit of live improvisation,” explains Smadj, whose birth name is Jean-Pierre Smadja. “I take my personal library of samples and sounds and play them live. I spent three years exploring this and found that you can play the laptop just like any other instrument.”

Asian Underground heavyweight Talvin Singh and Ekova frontwoman Deirdre Dubois ap-pear on ‘Vogue.’ Amit Chatterjee, the singular Indian vocalist and guitarist of Joe Zawinul fame, and Mehdi Haddab, who partners Smadj in the duo DuOud, team up on ‘Drive.’

Malian singer Rokia Traore appears on two songs as well as both of the remixes.