Yacine & The Oriental Groove – L'estima Venç La Salvatgia

Label: Not On Label (Yacine & The Oriental Groove Selfreleased)
Original Release Date: February, 2013

Yacine Belhacene was the leader and singer of Cheb Balowski and Nour, two bands which defined the urban/mestizo sound in the Barcelona of the early 2000s. Re-imagined as Yacine & the Oriental Groove, his music matured without losing its vital energy. The new sound is urban, raw and sophisticated at once. The oud, bouzouki and violin of Yannis Papaioannou, naturally draw melodies from Eastern Mediterranean to Northern African, blended with reggae and pop rhythms. The CD L'Estima venc la salvatgia is complemented by a DVD of the concert offered at the Auditori de Barcelona (31.05.12), in which Gerard Quintana and Fermin Muguruza collaborated, among others.

The musicians participated in the recording of the album are:

From Greece: Sofia Labropoulou (kanun), Dimitris Rebabis (bagpipes), Giannis Bringas Koufopoulos (voice), Zacharias Vamvakousis (accordion), from Algeria: Amel Zen (voice), Massinissa AOT Ahmed (voice) and Rabah Ourrad (voice). Also Catalan Ramón Faura (Macho / Le Petit Ramon-voice) and Carlos Castellanos Lecha “Sami” (trumpet) as well as a string quartet consisting of Luna Aragón, María Juan, Sandrine Robillard and Franco Molinari.