In a perpetual movement, Arbaa's music invites a trance in a universe of contrasts. The massive rhythm answers a melodic section (‘overtone’ might be better here), sometimes operatic sometimes aggressive. The harmonious combinations from Rhodes, the samples of contemporary music, the loops of the low clarinet and soprano saxophone mix in a hypnotic way, carried by a repetitive heavy and mechanical polyrhythm. The current formation includes seven experimental musicians stemming from different circles (discipline here instead perhaps?), each brings a personal and an original touch to the music. The link which unites them is the desire to expand the frame of the style and claim only the mystic energy of the music, just like African or Indian music of trance. The improbable mixture of these influences surprises by its versatility, a destructive bass-line underscores synthetic sounds and distortions that create a strange elegance which proclaim the themes and the original harmonies.
To place Arbaa in the current panorama of musicians we can look to Ez3kiel, Mei Tei Sho, Ronin Nick Bartsch and Fela Kuti. These last few years Arbaa toured with groups as Shady, Marvin, Gnawa Diffusion, BlueBird …
Arbaa bring out their first album in the form of four vinyls’s accompanied with a CD in October, 2010. To enrich the music, they brought in new artists; the album welcomes singers, Brother Joe Pilgrim of the Collective Dub Addict, Arnaud Didierjean, Dhrupad and the reggae vocalist Likkle Johnson. The album is coming out under the independent label of Lyon Factory Set and is distributed by C1D1 as well as record dealers from the South of France.
