Kan Ya Makan/Ghost Riders in The Sky/II Etait Une Fois
Music by Jaoued El Garouge & Thomas Attar Bellier
From Essaouira (Morocco), Jaouad El Garouge is a vocalist, percussionist and guembri player of the ancestral Gnawa tradition. A veteran of the world music circuit, El Garouge is the lead singer in Arab psychedelic rock outfit, Al-Qasar, and partnered with Redouane Raifak (Nass El Ghiwanne) to form Gnawa Youmala. He also appears on releases and toured with the likes of Salif Keita, Acid Arab, and Nuru Kane.
Thomas Attar Bellier’s (Paris, France) musical identity was shaped in centers of true cultural diversity: Los Angeles, New York, Paris. A French-American producer in his mid-thirties, Thomas has appeared on about two-dozen records, performed in 23 countries, and composed for TV & film. The breadth of this experience was cemented through collaborations with some of the greatest minds in contemporary Arab music (Dina El Wedidi, Emel Mathlouthi), rock’n’roll (Jello Biafra), poetry (Ron Whitehead) and free jazz (Sonny Simmons, William Parker). In LA, Thomas trained under Grammy-winning producer Matt Hyde, with whom he worked on releases by the Deftones, Danzig, Soulfly, Behemoth, and Bill Ward (Black Sabbath). He also fronted thunderous psychedelic prog outfit, Blaak Heat, and toured the world with spaghetti western rock institution Spindrift (alongside members of the Brian Jonestown Massacre). Having relocated to his native Paris in 2018, Thomas launched Arab garage rock outfit Al-Qasar, in which oud and darbuka join forces with Fender amps and Ludwig drum kits. Travels to Cairo, as well as collaborations with Egyptian musicians and members of the ancestral zar sisterhood gave birth to Al-Qasar’s first EP, Miraj (out June 5, 2020).