The Orchester National de Barbès is the noise, the smell and the soul of this mestizo neighborhood of Paris, but also the fusion of the different North African and French musical communities, the union of 11 musicians from different regions of the Maghreb and France who set up a repertoire that puts everyone in agreement, Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians and French from the popular neighborhoods. Their penultimate album, Rendez-vous Barbès (2010), is a synthesis of the 3 previous ones and comes to breathe a new dynamic into North African music of which they are the best ambassadors.

With Algerian and Moroccan roots, the members of this orchestra lived in the Parisian neighborhood of Barbès when they got together to make music in 1995. Barbès is an emblem of the history of immigration in France, the place where many Algerian, Moroccan and , Malians or Senegalese chose their first address, usually a room in a dilapidated hotel, hoping to scrape together a little money. And it is in the cafes of this neighborhood that the North African music scene was born in France, then confidential and frequented only by the hundreds of immigrants who came down to the cafe on their way back from the factory, to listen to some songs from their country. Mythical singers came from there, like Dahmane El Harrachi or Cheb Khaled.

Today, more than fifteen years later, the Orquestre National de Barbès continues to mix traditional Maghrebi styles, raï, reggae and Gnawa music with contemporary sounds and rhythms to show the world the sound richness of Africa, including both the north and the lands. that start from the Sahara desert, emphasizing the most festive rhythms and taking tradition as a base to adapt it to the sounds of today.

Rendez-vous Barbès is a synthesis of his three previous works. Songs inspired by allaoui, raï, gnawa, chaabi, Berber, reggae rhythms... combined with an energy inspired by rock and ska. A snapshot of the energy and creative spirit that characterizes the popular neighborhoods of Paris, an album that invites you to dance and that would almost make you forget the "too serious" of the inhabitants of the French capital. In short, "an intense album, which results in an invitation to travel through that immense world that is found in the streets of that multicultural neighborhood that is Barbès".

Tracks list:

01. Sidi Yahia-bnet Paris

02. Chkoun?

03. No no no

04. Chorfa

05. RDV Barbès

06. Jarahtini-Marhba-Jibouhali

07. Rod Balek

08. Laafou

09. Denya

10. Allah idaouia

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