The Afro Arabiq Walzer Archestra is for the moment the most beautiful surprise of the summer of festivals.
To tell the truth, there were few who knew the Afro Arabiq Walzer Archestra, a training of World Music born in Austria and bringing together a dozen musicians including the Tunisian percussionist Habib Samandi.
This group also includes several percussionists from different traditions, which thanks to Ibou Nga Ba (Senegal) and Ingrid Oberkanins (Austria) gives a mixed sound to the image of the group’s project.
Two bassists make up the rhythmic base of the formation: Gregor AufMesser and Beate Wiesinger, both Austrians as well as the majority of musicians, of which Harald Huber is the indisputable man-orchestra.
Installed behind his keyboards, author of compositions and arrangements, Harald Huber is the sting of the group, the one by which fusion and emotion are born.
The other soloists in the training are all violinists: Tomáš Novák, Simon Frick, Maria Salamon, Florian Sighartner and Andreas Schreiber who all contribute to giving his musical color and his cachet to the Afro Arabiq Walzer Archestra, this set which mixes Wiener Walzer, in other words the Viennese waltz.
Finally, the voice of Rita Movsesian is the other asset of this group. This singer of Armenian origin brought to the group a remarkable impulse especially thanks to her interpretation of
“Tahya Carthage” (Vive Carthage) of which she is the author of the text in Arabic. Rita Movsesian also sang “Ordhouni Zouz Sbeya”, a classic from the Tunisian repertoire.
It was above all “Tahia Carthage” who caught the public’s attention both in Dougga to Tunis, during a JAM session with the artists. A lyrical text, a powerful voice and a contrasting musical register make this song, a real hymn and an air to remember.
“Tahia Carthage” crowned the performance of this training which evolves between Jazz, World and Austrian Waltz.
In fact, Afro Arabiq Walzer Archestra – Aawa – is a musical ensemble that mixes the Wiener Walzer (Viennese waltz) with rhythms of Dakar, Tunis and Damascus.
This multicultural ensemble is inspired by Arab, West African and Austrian musical traditions. The Iraqi and Syrians songs, the Maghreb rhythms Gnawa, the traditions of the Austrian waltz and the passages of Free Jazz are combined in an unprecedented mix.
A unique merger whose interpreters are a dozen freedoms in freedom, carried by a deep desire for intercultural encounters.
