Mohamed Rouane

Mohamed Rouane (born at Belouizdad, Algiers in 1968) is an Algerian musician and recording artist, well known in his own country for his performances of flamenco and "Casbah-style jazz" and especially for his use of the mondol.[1][2]

Mohamed Rouane
محمد روان
BornBelouizdad, Algiers
Genres
Occupation(s)composer, musician
InstrumentsAlgerian mandole, oud, guitar
Labels
  • Mélodie
  • Dounia
Associated acts
  • Triana Algiers
  • Méditranéo
  • Casbah Jazz

Beyond the business of being a musician, he is a creative force in Algeria, and his mondol playing credited with raising Algerian music to "higher spheres" in world music.[3] In a feature article, Aljazeera called him an artist with the ability and mastery to be brilliant, able to render the mondol into a respectable instrument.[4] He calls his style of music Casbah Jazz, and fuses jazz with Algerian musical forms to create something new.[5] He has been popular enough to be a repeat instructor and performer at Algerian music festivals. He is also known as a teacher and guest performer at musical festivals in Algeria and Europe, performing not only in nearby Netherlands and France, but as far away as Poland.[6]

His music has been described as a fusion of chaabi with jazz, performed on an Algerian mandole.[5][6] He has made it his personal mission to change the reputation of the mondol, from an instrument that he couldn't carry in public on the street because of its low reputation to one known on the world stage as an Algerian instrument, one capable of transmitting both Western and Arab feelings.[4] He was inspired by the music of Sheikh M'Hamed El Anka (the "Master of Chaabi", to whom he dedicated his music) and his mondol playing, and Rouan looks to Chaabi to be part of the soul of his own music.[5]

History

Rouane attended the Municipal Conservatory of Ghermoul in 1992, but gravitated away from Andalusian classical music toward flamenco.[2] In 1992 he started the group Triana Algiers, which lasted a few months.[2][7] He worked at a hotel in Tunisia as an instrumentalist for three years.[2] In 1995 he started another group, Méditerranéo, in Algiers, playing gypsy-style flamenco on guitar.[2][7] He had good success with the group and recorded two albums with them.[7] He developed a reputation as being a good singer a well.

He left Méditerranéo in 2000, starting a solo career.[2] Much of this work is performing instrumentals on his mandole, an effort to increase knowledge of the instrument internationally.[4] His Casbah Jazz records feature his playing lead on a mix of tunes, fusing melodies and rhythms from jazz, chaâbi, tindi (Tuareg music form), andalusian, flamenco, berouali, karkabo and kabyle.[5]

Common to all his later music is his use of the mandole as a lead instrument. Much of the music he does are instrumentals. Rouane has said repeatedly that his use of the mandole for his music is a tribute to the Chaabi musician El Anka, the musician who helped develop the instrument as it is used today in Algeria. Although Rouane blends different musical forms with jazz, he draws the "soul" of his works from Chaabi for inspiration.

When his first album came out, He was disappointed to hear it called a work of tourism.[4] His second album was different.[4] It was a part of his "project in spiritual music," in which the story told by his mondol is reflective, moving toward "spiritual purity."[4]

His last album was published in 2008.[2] In March 2017 he announced in an interview that he was working on a new album.[8] During the music festival at Djemila (13th Arab Festival of Djemila) in the summer of 2017, he was reunited on stage with Selma Kouiret, a singer from his trio Méditerranéo.[9] The two also performed together in Algiers in July 2017, her singing and him accompanying with his instrument.[9]

Albums

With Méditerranéo
  • j'aime (I really like/love), Melodie, c. 1996
  • Pour Vous Mediterraneo (For you the Mediterranean)[10]

Solo
  • Rêve (Dream), Dounia, 2005[2] Alternative date 2002[11]
  • Rayon de soleil (Ray of sunshine), Dounia, 2006[2]
  • Heureux fans de tristesse (Happy in sadness), Dounia, 2007[2]
  • Nulle part (Nowhere), Dounia, 2008[2]
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References
  1. Kader, B. "Musique algérienne traditionnelle Chers instruments!". Le Soir d'Algérie. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  2. "Exclusif: Mohamed Rouane chez Guide Nomad!". Guide Nomad. 26 April 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2017. Information on this Facebook page is from the book "Guide Nomad Algiers 2015", Publication date 1 January 2015 ISBN 978-9961970027. https://www.amazon.fr/gp/aw/d/9961970020/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?__mk_fr_FR=ÅMÅZÕÑ&qid=1501859523&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords="Guide+Nomad"&dpPl=1&dpID=51o3%2BCj42AL&ref=plSrch#productDescription_secondary_view_div_1501859568152
  3. Bendamèche, Abdelkader (25 July 2014). "Mr Abdelkader Bendamèche répond à l'APS au sujet du mandole (Translation: Mr Abdelkader Bendamèche responds to the APS about the mandola)". abdelkaderbendameche.skyrock.com. Retrieved 25 July 2017. ABDELKADER BENDAMECHE President of the National Council Arts and Letters, Algiers, 21 July 2014
  4. "Algerian Mohamed Rouen revives the soul of the Mondol machine". Aljazeera Media Network. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  5. "FESTIVAL DE MUSIQUE ANDALOUSE ET DES MUSIQUES ANCIENNES Mohamed Rouane et les Iraniens (translation: FESTIVAL OF ANDALUSIAN MUSIC AND OLD MUSIC Mohamed Rouane and the Iranians)". lexpression.dz. L'Expression. 26 December 2011. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  6. "La mandole (Translation: The Mandola)". vitaminedz.org. Algerian Press Service / Info Soir. 5 November 2014. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017. (translation:...Mohamed Rouane. ...approaching as many styles as the tindi (flamenco music), flamenco and jazz, with instrumentations inspired by the chaâbi, a fusion that it called "Jazz Casbah"...ambassador for the Algerian Mandole,...has multiplied international tours by sharing the stage with renowned musicians in Poland, the Netherlands and other countries.)
  7. "Mohamed Rouane" L' Ame/ Nuits blanches"". mp3mtv.tk. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  8. "الموسيقار و عازف الموندول محمد روان (translation: The musician and player of the Mondol Mohamed Rouen)". annasronline.com. Al Naser (news) online. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  9. "MOHAMED ROUANE ET SELMA KOUIRET EN DUO À ALGER (translation:Mohamed Rouane and Selma Kouiret in duet in Algiers)". Algérie Presse Service. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  10. Pour Vous Mediterraneo (Media notes).
  11. "Musician Mohamed Rawan Reveals his passion for Mandole". Egypt Today. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
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