Zarabi Oum

• 1 Nia 04:33
• 2 Lila 05:43
• 3 Hna 04:17
• 4 Jini 04:15
• 5 Ah wah 04:55
• 6 Wali  04:32
• 7 Mansit 04:13
• 8 N'nay 03:56
• 9 Saadi 04:14
• 10 Veinte años 05:10
• Total Runtime 45:48

Info for Zarabi

Moroccan of Saharan origin, Oum is immediately striking with her impressive blend of power and sensitivity. Through her sultry voice, she explores the diversity of Moroccan music that she colours with soul, Gnawa and Hassani rhythms. With her new project „Zarabi“ she weaves into her music her encounters, her roots and the memory of the Moroccan people.

For „Zarabi“, OUM chose a pared-down backing band. She plays with two brilliant and charismatic musicians of her last album: Damian Nueva at the double bass, and Yacir Rami at the oud. For this new album, she is also accompanied by Cuban trumpeter Yelfris Valdes – a well-known talent of the World and Latin Jazz in London – and by the famous Moroccan percussionist Rhani Krija, who’s been working with Sting for ten years.

The album was recorded in M’hamid El Ghizlane, outside, in communion with the desert, the winds and the crazy temperatures: the strength of the album comes from this both vitalizing and hostile environment. Instead of choosing the comfort of a classical recording studio, OUM preferred to go back to the desert, and to join her friends of M’Hamid El Ghizlane that she takes as a second family.

With them, she felt the vibrations of this particular atmosphere, and she found in the power of these women – to which the weavers belong and who inspired her the name of this project – a new energy for the record of the album.

Ideas, rhythms, melodies, notes, lyrics on booklets, voices… All these elements have been delicately gathered to produce a soft and refined album. As the carpets are made from different materials, the tracks of Zarabi were born from the spiritual clothes OUM has worn for the last months.

In this album, there are numerous references to different popular Moroccan traditions, with a large place given to the oud and to the percussions: rich rhythms and melodies from the Aita, the Daqqa marrakchia, the gnawa and the Hassani traditions are softly played byRhani Krija and Yacir Rami. The fragile but powerful double bass of Damian Nueva melts with the minimalist melodies of Yelfris Valdes’ trumpet. Thus, Zarabi is an album where the warm, soft voice of OUM is lightly and finely supported by an atypical but balanced quartet.

Oum, vocals
Damian Nueva, bass
Maurizio Congiu, bass
Camille Passeri, trumpet
Inor Sotolongo, drums
Natascha Rogers, drums
Yacir Rami, oud

Oum
The sensual, soulful and refined Moroccan singer Oum released her first album outside her native land last year. 'Soul of Morocco' was released in France in April 2013 to great acclaim by French press, Radio & TV. Since then Oum has played in Paris & many other cities in France and abroad with a larger & larger public.

Swathed in the sounds of her native land, she is making her mark with an impressive blend of power and sensitivity. Now Oum is ready to take on new challenges & new territories. This is an appointment not to be missed!

An exceptional singer with a scintillating look, Oumʼs latest album Soul Of Morocco manages the feat of being a beguiling synthesis of jazz and Moroccan music but is above all clearly music of today. An album which also allows us to discover an artist who is at the same time moving, sincere, committed and modern.

Oum. Born in 1978 in Casablanca, her full name is Oum el Ghait Benessahraoui - Oum is the first word of the phrase “Oum el Ghait”, which means 'the mother of deliverance'. This name was formerly given to girls born in the desert during a day or night of rainy weather. Oum spent her childhood in Marrakech, and there developed her talents for painting and singing. At age fourteen, the singer's taste for jazz and black music led her to join a gospel choir where she quickly became one of the soloists. At the end of high school in 1997, Oum entered the National School of Architecture in Rabat and studied there for six years. In 2003 she made the decision to focus on singing.

Booklet for Zarabi