“This album shows my duality: the lyrical side and the underground side, one developed with Sylvain Barou (flutes, Zurna, Duduk…)and the other with Den-is Guivarc’h (sax).”
Urban Unconventional Oriental
DUAL, Smadj‘s new opus was born from successive waves of lockdowns. The object is partly composed in Lisbon on the banks of the Tagus river, where Smadj had set down his suitcases in the spring of 2019. It ends in the midst of the vineyards in Burgundy where the chameleon has since set foot. Again a transhumance, it’s compulsory with him : starting again.
DUAL may have started like a duel, with another, with a pandemic that would leave us stunned. DUAL, on the other hand, has inherited its quality; of this [A] which changes everything, thanks to the mirrored and staggered gazes of Sylvain Barou and Denis Guivarc’h.
DUAL or the state of the world after a brief syncope. Hoping and hopping !
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“Oud for thought […] A truly beautiful panoramic soudscape taking its source in his native Tunisia, reaching across the Middle East and Asia, passing through Turkey and India […] A vibrant sonic collection of tracks” Pierre Cuny Songlines ***
“Always in a dialogue with another culture, Smadj is once again splitting himself with this album, an electro-acoustic and cosmic puzzle aligned on all its interior planets, which he assembles in two stages and in tandem [….] As many pieces who explore the lyricism of oriental maqâms in the light of drum’n’bass […] on the borders of the electro-jazz galaxy, at the heart of a densely vibrating black hole, where nebulae of dancing beats, dark melodies and disturbing saturations ” Anne Berthod Télérama fff
“Smadj continues with a beautiful inspiration in the register which makes his mark: an alloy between invigorating groove and soaring flights, oriental electro-jazz and melodic song of the Arab lute, the instrument of his days and his nights, for more than twenty years. years ” Patrick Labesse Le Monde
“Armed with his oud, Smadj continues to dig his electro-jazz furrow with envy, between East and West, acoustic vibrations and electric flashes ” Théophile Pillault Pan Africa Music
Tracklisting
| 1 | Elle | Smadj/Sylvain Barou |
| 2 | Eux | Smadj/Sylvain Barou |
| 3 | Vous | Smadj/Sylvain Barou |
| 4 | Aime | Smadj |
| 5 | Je | Smadj/Sylvain Barou |
| 6 | Nous | Smadj |
| 7 | Lui | Smadj/Sylvain Barou |
| 8 | For U | Smadj/Denis Guivarch |
| 9 | The B Style | Smadj/Denis Guivarch |
| 10 | Dual 3 | Smadj/Denis Guivarch |
| 11 | Fogueira | Smadj/Denis Guivarch |
| 12 | With D | Smadj/Denis Guivarch |
| 13 | Peplum | Smadj/Denis Guivarch |
| 14 | Canapé Rouge | Smadj/Denis Guivarch |
