Labess with Jamila & The Other Heroes

In the organizer's words:

This is more than a concert; it’s a celebration, it's a mystical journey through sound and culture. This July Labess is playing their inaugural show in Berlin at Gretchen alongside the psychedelic desert funk sound of Jamila & The Other Heroes. The soulful, raw and revolutionary melodies of Labess, the acclaimed Algerian band known for their captivating blend of flamenco, Rumba, and North African rhythms, transport us to a realm of musical magic, nostalgia and groove. With celebrated albums and international accolades, Labess is set to weave their sonic spell on the Berlin stage for the very first time. Alongside them, Jamila & the Other Heroes will ignite the night with their powerful fusion of psychedelic rock, funk, and SWANA influences. 

Labess

Labess is a journey. It begins in Alger, in the working-class district of Hussein-Dey. Nedjim Bouizzoul grew up surrounded by the chaâbi music. Carried by the freedom with which music travels, and the Arabic language when it frees itself from literary codes. Nedjim is looking for his voice, his way. Deep inside him, a call resounds, that of his guitar and of North America, where he moved at the age of 18. Then came his first musical collaborations. A music open to the four winds of the world: African sounds, rumba, flamenco…In this universal proposal, the chaâbi is always present. The albums Identité (2012) and La Route (2016) bear witness to this trajectory, where the origin catches up with us, rubs up against the outside and frees itself. The roots come to the surface, in exile. The voice rises in several languages, Algerian dialectal Arabic, Spanish, French. Deep and committed. Finally, to the question who am I? Nedjim answers: „a little from each country i visit, a little from each musician I meet“. A plural and intimate music. Inhabited. Free.

Jamila & The Other Heroes:

JAMILA & THE OTHER HEROES is a wild band from manywhere creating Psychedelic Desert Funk to make you fly. Leading the band is the vibrant Jamila AlYousef. Born in Berlin on the day the wall came down, and raised by her influential Palestinian refugee father, Jamila composes music to connect with transcultural audiences who can identify with the bands' diaspora narratives and their musical fight against racism. "As people with family backgrounds in Syria, Palestine, Italy and Colombia, we travel and create home within our music." Jamila's emancipatory message in Arabic and English is supported by powerful live musicians. Let yourself be carried away by an incomparable sound of psychedelic guitar riffs (Leon Sanchez) , vibrating on a warm and earthy fundament of wavy bass runs (Felix ‚Fema’ Barth) and Arab percussion sounds (Salam Alhassan), as well as Afrobeat, Hip Hop und Rock influenced drum beats (Pier Ciaccio).

Omar Zyami:

Omar Zyami is a versatile DJ from Rabat, Morocco, who plays eclectic music style sets with a focus on electronic music and beats from the SWANA region. They collect and mix with cassettes filled with Raï and Chaâbi, music dear to their heart. Omar is also the founder of the Haram party in Hildesheim, a self-organized decolonial fest aimed at creating diversity in the local music and art scene, decolonizing the dance floor, and promoting the Maghrebi party scene locally.