Ishtar Connection
The Story of an Iraqi Goddess - Arabic Vibrations
Two training courses:
4tet
Fawzy Al-Aiedy Singing, electric oud
Amin AlAiedy Oud, arrangements and choirs
Sylvain Ratovondrahety Keyboards, choirs
Adrien Al-Aiedy ("Adrien Drums") Drums, Pad, choirs
​
5tet with more:
Vincent Boniface Diatonic accordion, bagpipes, clarinet, flutes, backing vocals
Album released at the end of 2019
c/o Inouie Distribution
For the first time in his career, Fawzy Al-Aiedy pays tribute to Arabic songs from the East (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt) and the Maghreb (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria), a tribute spiced up with his own melodies. . Through Ishtar Connection, traditional songs, modes and rhythms dialogue with electronic sounds and pulsations. It's an improbable but irresistible alchemy, between world music and electronics, invented by a master of oriental music and three young musicians from contemporary music: Vincent Boniface Aosta Valley multi-instrumentalist, Amin Al-Aiedy arrangements and oud, Adrien Al Aiedy (Adrien Drums) on the battery and Sylvain Ratovondrahety keyboard. What could be better than appealing to the new generation cradled between two cultures.
Modern musical references echo a centuries-old tradition. Electric oud and Arabic singing intersect with electronic textures, the sounds of a bagpipe and other acoustic instruments, in an unexpected harmony and groove, all transcended by modern and relevant arrangements.
What name could fit better with this project than that of Ishtar, a major and fascinating figure in Mesopotamian mythology, a symbol of duality and opposites. Ishtar Connection launches a bridge between tradition and modernity, offering a space of freedom, a resolutely festive moment where cultures meet, where irresistible desires to dance are born... Welcome to the oriental fest-noz.
BIOGRAPHIES
Fawzy Al-Aiedy
Vocals, electric oud
Amin Al-Aiedy
Oud
and arrangements
Sylvain Ratovondrahety
Keyboard
Adrien Al-Aiedy
Alias Adrien Drums
Drums and electronic sounds
Vincent Boniface
Diatonic button accordion, bagpipes, bombarde,
clarinet, flutes
Nominated for a Django d’Or, this composer-singer-musician of Iraqi descent is known for his culturally mixed creations. With his charism and stage presence, Fawzy (Fawzy Al-Aiedy) receives his audience in Oriental style, sharing his passions as a traveller and musician. Continually curious for different genres, Ishtar Connection marks a new chapter in his musical work. He melts Oriental tunes with electronic music, to create a surprising alchemy of original compositions, cover versions, traditional music modes, spicy rhythms and cutting-edge electro sounds in step with the time. For more than 30 years, he has performed many concerts in France and different parts of the globe.
Young bassist, oudist and double bassist, Amin grew up between two cultures, those of a French mother and an Iraqi father. Rocked to the sound of the oud, he followed a double musical course at the Regional Conservatory of Strasbourg: that of jazz and improvised music with Jean-Daniel Hégé and Eric Watson, that of so-called "current" music with Samuel Collard. He also studied classical guitar with Hideaki Tsuji, songwriting and orchestration, earning a degree in musicology. After obtaining his DEM in double bass, he continued his training by going back and forth with Tunisia where he studied oud and maqam (oriental modes). He teaches jazz and jazz double bass at the Higher Institute of Music in Tunis while participating in various jazz and world music groups (Djokla, New Balkan Express, Ishtar Connection, Fawzi Chekli, various Tunisian musicians: Hedi Fahem, Omar El Ouaer, Najet Ouni).
Sylvain Ratonvondrahety, of Malagasy origin, born in Paris in 1983, eclectic musician, lives only for, by and in music. At the cabarets of his "Big Island" in Africa, he immersed himself in these scales and rhythms, never seen during his classical training, to be able, alone in the piano bar, to have fun putting them into practice. And there, the encounters are made: funk, soul, gospel, hip-hop and RnB, everything called "groove" feeds him. In search of new sounds, but without abandoning tradition, he enjoys rock, pop, church songs, liturgy and fusion. After 2 years spent in Madagascar, he opens up the "Ears of the mind" even more: ragga, reggae, zouk, sega, seggae, rock (the "real") for a return to classical and jazz, in order to find salsa, bossa, tango, afro-beat and bikutsi. Passages required by various musical activities but no matter the place or the reason, the important thing is the music and the sharing with new people and new horizons.
"Music is life"
Adrien follows a somewhat atypical path. He started music at the age of 7 but the academic education did not suit him, he traced his own path, using his creativity and his energy in service of rhythms and textures that resemble it. After playing in contemporary music groups, seduced by the musicality and groove of Benny Greb or Stuart Copeland, he trained in more progressive and fusion music, leading a more nuanced and intentional game. Then he followed an intensive course at the CIM in Paris to extend his playing to African, Latin and jazz rhythms. At the same time, he took oriental percussion lessons. Curious about new technologies, he merges electronics with acoustics to find a hybrid, organic and modern sound. To satisfy his desire to share, he created a YouTube channel (tutorials and cover = Adrien Drums). He accompanies artists from the Parisian scene (Trafic Jam and Dan Morgan).
Poly-instrumentalist, Vincent Boniface likes the confrontation between popular expression and the experimentation of musical languages. He works in different contexts (composition, improvisation, events including the "Etétrad" festival). His happiness to play is particularly communicative. He was born into a family of musicians in the Aosta Valley in northern Italy, guardian of the musical tradition of the Western Alps. It also works to safeguard minority languages that are still alive (Franco-Provençal and French).
Since the age of 10, he has been playing regularly at festivals and traditional music stages. Il collaborates with folk-jazz-rock groups, while rubbing shoulders with electro trad. 1st bagpipe prize at the Saint-Chartier international festival in 2000 and recipient of a prize at the Loano festival in 2007, he has been collaborating on various projects of Fawzy Al-Aiedy for several years.
ALBUM COLLABORATIONS
GSTN | Programming, beatmaking
Electronic music producer Gaston (Philippe Rieger) is a multi-faceted sound artisan. Born into a family of melomaniacs, he works as a saxophone player, singer, lyricist, arranger and composer. He deploys his talents in a great variety of projects in which he handles every step of the creative process. Having grown up with hip-hop, techno and reggae, he performed as MC before becoming a member of La Fanfare en Pétard, where he also does the arrangements and mixing, and creating the fusion band Notilus, a new journey into the heart of sound. Also being a passionate beat maker, he has participated in productions by DJ Nelson and by many rappers. He has also plunged into the world of French chanson and global music, and doesn’t shy away from writing music for several theatre productions. Gaston loves experimentation of any kind.
Zied Zouari | Violin, viola
Born in Tunisia in 1983 to a family of musicians, Zied Zouari began playing violin at the age of seven. He obtained the first prize for children performing in Tunis in 1996 and the gold medal for the festival of young creative artists in Kram (Tunisia) in 1997. He began his professional career with Lebanese singer "Wadi SAFÎ" in 1999. Armed with a solid training, he landed in Paris in 2006, where he met musicians from all walks of life, played with great fame such as Sylvain Luc, Nizar Rohana, Manu Théron, Dionysos Papasterios, Emel Mathlouthi, David Aubaille, Bojan Z, Mathias Duplessy, Manuel Delgado… He is on the way to forming a reference in contemporary Arabic violinist language by developing a fusional approach that traces his various influences ranging from Afro-Arab music to Jazz.
TEMOIGNAGES
"The art of the curious and the fine mixture" could be the common thread of the artistic projects that Fawzy Al-Aiedy leads with skill. The intimate encoquine with the rhythm ... Very tasteful! "
Jean-François Pastor, Espace Django Reinhardt, Strasbourg
Quatre hommes et une déesse ! ISHTAR à l’honneur, déesse des contraires, (Amour et Guerre) - pour révéler que tout est possible, pourvu que ce soit sublime... Et sublimes ils le sont ! Dans l’alliance, des cultures orientales et occidentales, trad et créatives, electro-synthétiques et acoustiques, dans l’harmonie des arrangements de dentelles et la puissance du groove. Ça va vibrer !
Jean-Jacques Carre
Festival l'Accordéon Plein Pot !
REFERENCES
References
The realization of the Ishtar Connection project constituted the first stages of the research laboratory at the Cultural Center of Vendenheim, at the Django Reinhardt Cultural Space in Strasbourg, at the Festival Le Printemps des Bretelles in Illkirch and at the Agence Culturelle d'Alsace (2016 -2017).
Ishtar Connection performed at the Musiques d'Ici et d'Ailleurs festival in Châlons-en-Champagne in July 2017 and at the ÉtéTrad festival in Italy (Charvensod, Aosta Valley) in August 2017.
Photographs : Laurent Khrâm Longvixay
With the support of :
Creation supported by ADAMI, the MMC-DRAC Grand Est, the Grand Est Regional Council, the City of Strasbourg (within the framework of agreements or structuring from which Musiques en Balade benefits). Fawzy's tours have the support of SPEDIDAM.
