Tanger Sessions

Tanger Sessions

Exil Musik – click for this album @ iTunes

Dissidenten & Jil Jilala Dissidenten’s caravan has travelled a long path via India, the Americas, up and down the River Danube and North Africa, still driven by a fuel mix of playfulness, joy of living, curiosity and openness. The present rest area is Tangier in Morocco today. Tanger Sessions are acoustic pictures of a world full of thousands of colours, which seem to have turned black and white after 9/11, where heavily armed GIs fight with Bin Laden’s video messages. Heavy metallic guitars and earthy beats mark the frame of songs full of feeling and description of a world in which in many places fear and distrust seem to have taken the place of dreams of the multi cultural planet from where Dissidenten and Jil Jilala once started and still are sending their messages. But the beat goes on and the caravan keeps on traveling. Behind the desert a new oasis is waiting.  Tom Hagenauer | SWR

MISSION STATEMENT We are Dissidenten! What are we dissenting from? Normality, reality, celebrity, the majority! The triumph of style over content, the invisibility of the artist, the unreality of the media! We are enemies of the state of confusion! We concur with nobody, we dissent!

TANGER SESSIONS

Dissidenten & Jil Jilala @ Womex

The Tanger Sessions is based on skill and mutual understanding rather than superficial style and artifice. Recorded in Morocco and Germany in collaboration between Dissidenten and Jil Jilala, the Tanger Sessions delivers a Zeppelin-esque mixture of oriental percussion and armies of guitars, which hit places other multicultural collaborations fail to reach. Dissidenten was aiming at the ‚world‘ well before the idea of World Beat floated into fashion. In the early 80s, the New York Times flagged them as “leading the World Beat movement”. Jil Jilala are often referred to as the Beatles of Africa. Their songs are almost national anthems in Morocco, their country of origin.  For the last two years, Dissidenten & Jil Jilala have been working together on a new chapter of ‘Morock’n Roll’. Release date for the new joint album Tanger Sessions is spring 2008, followed by concerts in Europe and North Africa.

BIOG Dissidenten was aiming at the ‚world‘ well before the idea of World Beat floated into fashion. In the early 80s, the New York Times flagged them as “leading the World Beat movement”.

Jil Jilala are often referred to as the Beatles of Africa. Their songs are almost national anthems in Morocco, their country of origin. For the last two years, Dissidenten & Jil Jilala have been working together on a new chapter of ‘Morock’n Roll’. Release date for the new joint album Tanger Sessions is spring 2008, followed by concerts in Europe and North Africa. INDIVIDUAL BIOGS JIL JILALA Jil Jilala are probably the biggest name in North African contemporary popular music, known to all generations. They are named after a famous Sufi brotherhood in Morocco, the Jilala. Jil Jilala and their counterparts Nas el Ghiwane enjoy an almost epic cult of status in North Africa. Both groups exchanged members for many times. Therefore their names are mostly mentioned together. If Nass el Ghiwane are to be called the Rolling Stones, then Jil Jilala should be the Beatles of Africa! MOULAY TAHAR EL ASBIHANI – vocal/percussion ABDELKRIM EL KASBAJI – vocal/percussion HASSAN MIFTAH – vocal/bouzouki DISSIDENTEN ‘The World’ was Dissidenten’s main musical subject long before such ideas floated into fashion. Over a twenty-five year span their various projects have ranked among the most telling international contributions to the broadening of popular music. Since the term ‘World Music’ entered the music business lexicon in the early 1980s Dissidenten’s name has been synonymous with, and at the forefront of, this genre. Even in the 80’s it was the New York Times which saw them as “leading the World Beat movement”. MARLON KLEIN – drums/percussion UVE MÜLLRICH – bass/guitar FRIEDO JOSCH – flute MENNANA ENNAOUI – vocal/perc. Mennana Ennaoui is one of the most impressive singers of contemporary Moroccan music and has been involved in various past Dissidenten projects. Her musical work ranges from Moroccan folk songs to jazz, and her latest effort was with jazz legend Toots Thielemans on harmonica. ELKE ROGGE – hurdy-gurdy Elke Rogge is an exceptional hurdy-gurdy player who masters the ancient instrument in unusually modern way. She gained nationwide attention in Germany as the front woman for the ‘free folk’ group Hölderlin Express and has won numerous prizes including the German World Music Award and the German Folk Music Award. TILL UHLMANN – hurdy-gurdy Winner of various European awards for his instrument (International hurdy-gurdy contest in St. Chartier/France, Creole World Music Award/Germany). Founder of Germany’s folk shooting stars Ulman, student of jazz violin at Leipzig’s M.S. Bartholdy School. NOUJOUM OUAZZA – vocal/mandolin cello Noujoum Ouazza is an ex-member of Morocco’s famous group Lem Chaheb. With the late Cherif Lamrani, he is one of the most respected mandolincello players of his country and has worked with Dissidenten since the late 1980s. ROMAN BUNKA – guitar/oud In Germany, everybody knows the fabled Roman Bunka. He is not only an exceptional guitar player but is also probably the best European player of the Arabic oud. He performs regularly with Egypt’s superstar Mohamed Mounir. Starting out with Germany’s legendary group Embryo, he has been involved in various Dissidenten projects in the past. JENS FISCHER – guitar Founder of the Indian/German World Music formation Tri Atma. sideman for various artists including Inga Rumpf, Falco, Georgie Red and Eberhard Schoener. composer/producer of numerous TV, film and radio productions. Referred to by opera director Robert Wilson as the “Philip Glass of the guitar”. HENNING RÜMENAPP – guitar Guitarist with Germany’s world-famous Guano Apes, teacher at various schools and musical education projects in Germany. Sought-after session musician and computer wizard, and one of Dissidenten’s favourite guitarists, who brought his unique flavour with him when joining the Tanger Sessions.