After the runaway success of their first album together, released by Odradek World and acclaimed by both the public and the international press (five stars in BBC Magazine, four stars in Songlines Magazine), Koum Tara and La Camerata present Baraaim El-louz – ‘The buds of the almond tree’.
The line “Rise and behold the buds of the almond tree” comes from the poem Koum Tara, and it is in this spirit that this album was conceived: an invitation to admire spring, its renewal and its continuity. Renewal, because the group, with its new singer, has come up with original compositions and texts that attempt to open up new horizons for modern chaabi. Continuity, because Koum Tara remains a multi-faceted cultural journey, based on traditional chaabi poetry and melodies, the Western string quartet, jazz and electronic music.
This new repertoire, which took shape during the confinement of 2020, further explores the roots of chaabi with traditional melodies and lyrics by Mahboub Bati, Dahmane El Harrachi and Mohamed El Badji, thus honouring some of the great figures of this popular music style. This second opus is also enriched by original compositions and previously unpublished texts, written mainly by the singer Hamidou (Mohamed Hamam) and Karim Maurice.
