The singer, songwriter and producer Malika Zarra jumps effortlessly, as if it were a lever of change, between apparently unrelated languages and traditions, joining them and using them for mutual enrichment, making an infusion between the music of her native culture with jazz. On The Ebony Road, his first self-released album, mixes chaábi, Berber and Gnawa rhythms with jazz improvisation and his velvety and sinuous mezzosoprano voice.
Born in southern Morocco and emigrated to Paris with her family, Malika cites a variety of influences in her training: Chiha Hamdaouia, the virtuoso of the Lebanese oud Farid el Atrache and the Algerian singer Warda Al-Jazairia, also absorbing the music by Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby McFerrin, Thelonious Monk, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin. He is mainly interested in jazz attracted by what he has of improvisation, which is his main connection with Arabic music. On the other hand, Malika receives training in conservatories and jazz academies in Tours and Marseille, studying with Sarah Lazarus and Françoise Galais. It is in his stage of interpreter in numerous events and clubs of the Paris scene (including the St Germain L'esprit Jazz Festival, Sunside, Baiser Sale, Hot Brass, Espace Julien, Pelle Mele and the Cite de la Musique) when it begins to sing in their own language and write lyrics for jazz, receiving from the public a magnificent welcome.
In 2004 Malika moved to New York, developing a whole repertoire in which he incorporated his Berber, Gnawa and Shaabi inheritance, the elegance of French pop and his baggage for jazz. His reputation as a soloist begins to grow, Malika's vocal versatility leads him to participate in a wide variety of projects, including house, dance, gospel, funk and African music. He records with a wide variety of artists and takes part in a multitude of renowned scenes such as the Carnegie Hall, the London Jazz Festival, the Festival du Monde Arabe, the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music and a long etcetera.
On The Ebony Road reveals a firm knowledge of its rich diversity of references, the fusion of East and West in a lively, sensual, fresh and deep exercise of inclusion. The fusion of instruments such as the oud and the traditional percussions of the Maghreb with the drums and bass, and its extraordinary vocal technique fly over the songs included in the album. Interpreting in French, English and his native Moroccan Arabic, while drawing his song about Berber and Gnawa sounds and rhythms, Malika reveals himself as a singer and songwriter who can already be within the elite of world music and Jazz
01. Run
02. Free
03. Pouvoir
04. Fayne
05. All the same
06. Joky heart
07. Mchina
08. Yourjewel
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