The French DJ continues to explore the Oranese region with his new EP, entitled Aïdour.
Known as part of the collective, Pardonnez-nous, which consists of Parisian DJs and also the design group 404, Bab continues his solo career following the release of his album Sahar in May 2020, which was inspired by the music of Algeria, including raï and chaâbi. A year later, Bab returns with Aïdour, an Ep whose name refers to a mountain near Oran, in the northwest of Algeria. Perceived as the “capital of raï,” Oran is the country’s second-largest city. Here, the French DJ revisits several North African tales and myths related to the mountain of Aïdour, while pulling us into his electronic musical universe. The artist defined his project as follows: “Four tracks for four destinations through a country and all its wealth. From north to south, from east to west, passing from one century to another.”
Bab concocts a symbiosis between electronic music and Algerian recordings dating from the first half of the twentieth century. This mixture of eras is perfectly illustrated in his video “Erigeron,” made in collaboration with Kevin Brichard. The opening track of the EP allows us to dive into both the Algerian and Oranese atmospheres. Bab explains: “I was freely inspired by the film La Jetée by Chris Marker. The voice-over is replaced by rhythmic music that matches the photos I took with my film camera during my last stay there.” We hear melodies reminiscent of chaâbi and youyous, while observing the architecture of Algeria’s two largest cities, in all their colors, reflecting the diversity of the largest country in Africa, the Arabic-speaking world, and the Mediterranean basin.
The Aïdour EP is available via Crowdspacer.
