Fanfarai

Fanfarai offers a truely human, musical and cultural experience. These eleven musicians of various cultural backgrounds revisit, in their own ways, the tradition of festive wanderings. This original band born in 2005 and based in France, plays North African music by blending skillfully traditional percussions, brass, Arab-Berber, Afro-Cuban, Latin and Jazz sounds. From the street to the stage there is just one step for this colorful orchestra which offers a very festive and generous show. Fanfarai plunges us into a rousing and emotional musical ambience. ??Fanfarai emerged in 2005 under the direction of Samir Inal. After creating Ziyara a traditional Algerian street band in 2000 he met with musicians coming from jazz and salsa bands and decided to reconfigure with them the traditional and popular repertoire of a brass band.

FANFARAI goes along the same line as the tradition of these street orchestras, called "Idbalen" or "Zernadjia" that animated rituals and feasts in Algeria from the beginning of the century till the 1970's. Idbalen was common in the Berber region, Algiers and its surroundings. These bands used to perform in public squares, streets and mausoleums during the feast of local saints. Inseparable from festive events, these street musicians used Tbel (drums), Ghaita (flute) and Tbilette (small drum or tambourine), Derbouka, Guellal and Kerkabou according to their region. Fanfarai combined the saxophones, congas, trumpets, trombone, drums and the tuba to these traditional instruments, readapted the repertoire for all these instruments and introduced Afro-Cuban, Salsa, Latin and jazz influences. The North African music was never played this way (with a brass band) and this is what makes Fanfarai so original and the project so successful. ??

The music of Fanfarai is a cheerful combination that is as interesting as the diversity of cultures and trajectories of the musicians themselves. French, North African and Franco-North African musicians bring their energy and talent together and share their own particular musical heritage with all the other members of the band. The baseline of the repertoire of Fanfarai is Algerian and Moroccan and each member of the band is free to bring his own influences into it. Fanfarai succeeds with each performance - in the streets or on stages – because they carry the audience away beyond ethnic descent or nationality, towards territories of tolerance, discovery and pleasure. “Tani” the second album of the band was released on May 2013 and gives a good view of their creativity with personal compositions and reggae & funk influences. The leitmotiv of the band is "to learn from one another and to share with all."