Parallells duo launch their A Day In series with a fantastic first film from Essaouira in Morocco, during Moga Festival
A DAY IN ESSAOUIRA
WATCH THE FULL EPIZODE HERE – https://vimeo.com/412308564
The Parallells duo are proud to launch their A Day In series with a fantastic first film from Essaouira in Morocco, during Moga Festival. The film features a new and exclusive track “A Day In Essaouira” which will be available for purchase on Bandcamp and profits will go to the Associations Yerma Gnaoua and Issaouas in order to help Moroccan traditional musicians and their families to overcome the CV19 crisis.
Julien and Thomas de Bie, former students of the Academy of Music, grew up influenced by jazz and classical music and are now underground electronic stalwarts who are based in Amsterdam. They perform at major festivals such around the globe, manage Klassified Records and the Klassified Music Festival and have just opened “The House of Klassified” in Amsterdam; a creative hub for their artists combining: studios, recording facilities, an art gallery and co-working spaces.
With this ambitious new project, Parallells have taken their musical venture even further by discovering different cultures, tribes and their specific sounds. This episode is the first one of the video series “A Day In” where Parallells translate, through field recordings, a specific culture, city or country. It is said that “Music is the universal language” and Parallells aims to show how it connects people as well as showing the world’s beauty and use music as a force for change. This video was filmed by friend Arnaud Moro who does a remarkable job of capturing the process through his lens.
This last October, Parallells, Maalem Omar Hayat and his crotales players performed a unique show combining Gnawa music infused with electronic music. It came about as an initiative from Moga Festival called Moga Creation. Creating bridges between tradition and modernity, perpetuating the heritage of Essaouira, a city of mixed cultures, highlighting local creativity and hospitality, this project is what Moga Creation aims for.
Parallells rehearsed in the middle of Essaouira’s Medina, in a sacred place where the synergies were shivering when electronic music met traditional Gnawa’s rhythm and culture. After 3 days together, they played this memorable live at Moga Festival, a performance forever engraved in many people’s hearts.
Gnawa culture is a centuries-old Moroccan practice rooted in African rituals, Sufi traditions and music played with the guenbri, a type of lute with three strings, and steel castanets called krakebs or crotales. Gnawa refers to a “set of musical productions, fraternal practices and therapeutic rituals where the secular mixes with the sacred”
Essaouira is an exceptional example of a late-18th-century fortified town, built according to the principles of contemporary European military architecture in a North African context. Since its foundation, it has been a major international trading seaport, linking Morocco and its Saharan hinterland with Europe and the rest of the world.
Maalam Omar Hayat is delighted with this collaboration with Julien and Thomas, because it perfectly reflects the cultural exchange between Gnaoua music and electronic music. It was a truly unique experience with, as a highlight, this superb live performed at Moga festival, which perfectly symbolizes this alliance. “Moga création”. It is the DNA of Moga festival and a great opportunity to represent these different worlds in the hope of future collaboration, because it was really magic.
This is a fantastic way to launch this new video series which will breakdown borders between music, culture and people all over the world. Watch out for the second episode which finds the pair immersing themselves in the Huichol culture in the Mexican mountains later this year.
![Photo credit: The Sauce / Kane Lehanneur Australia’s funkiest musical export Ocean Alley are thrilled to announce their highly anticipated third album Lonely Diamond, out independently June 19 with distribution via UNIFIED Music Group. The news follows the premiere of their latest single from the record, ‘Hot Chicken’, on triple j last night, and comes off the back of the recent postponement of their Australian tour until 2021. Album pre-orders go live 9am AEST Wednesday 29 April from here. Watch ‘Hot Chicken’ via YouTube here. Grappling with spiralling out of control, ‘Hot Chicken’ encapsulates the seduction and suffering that comes from wrestling with the devil on one’s shoulder. Accentuated by the dangerous edge to vocalist Baden Donegal’s voice, ‘I’ll be the razor if you want to play’, the taunting driving guitars intensify the feeling to fight. Threaded with echoes of an Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western score, the song’s expansive soundscape grows and conquers, transporting the listener to the middle of a dusty stand-off in a state of isolation and emptiness. Drawing from the nostalgia of music eras past, Lonely Diamond combines 70s guitar rock, country and western, old school funk and synth-heavy new wave to create a deeply contemplative and atmospheric odyssey reminiscent of music legends including Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits and Pink Floyd. From its sprawling opening notes, the record feels like a seamless progression following their last album, 2018’s Chiaroscuro, with exploration and escapism forming two central themes that unfold and transform across the 12 tracks. Guitarist Mitch Galbraith explains, “It’s pushing forward into the unknown… taking a journey to a different place or a different time that seems familiar or that you’ve been before and all the emotions and feels that come with that.” There’s an ingrained familiarity with this record from the first listen – all the elements that define Ocean Alley’s sound are there, but more intricately arranged; new instruments are introduced, the production is pushed to new limits and the band has created complete synergy between each track. Album opener ‘Dahlia’ mystically sets the scene with an intergalactic introduction, while the introspective title-track ‘Lonely Diamond’ engulfs the listener in a wave of melancholy before finding purpose with warmth and tenderness. Hopefulness is intrinsically linked with these anxieties, feelings and experiences explored, and the bright and dreamy ‘Up In There’ creates an uplifting sense of reassurance that everything will be okay, with its soaring harmonies, swirling guitars and ethereal keys. Produced by long-time collaborator Callum Howell at the idyllic Grove Studios (built by INXS’ Garry Gary Beers), Lonely Diamond follows the success of Ocean Alley’s acclaimed second full-length LP Chiaroscuro. With its infectious blend of psychedelic surf-rock, the record propelled the band into national prominence and saw them sell 25,000 tickets over 15 sold out shows that year in Australia alone – culminating with their ARIA nominated, double platinum-selling single ‘Confidence’ taking out #1 in triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2018. Their breakthrough year was backed-up with 30 sold out shows around the world in 2019, plus major festival appearances at Reading & Leeds Festival (UK), Splendour In The Grass (AUS), Sziget (HU), BottleRock (US) and more, with the band amassing more than 250 million streams to date. OCEAN ALLEY – LONELY DIAMOND [LP] Out independently June 19 with distribution via UNIFIED Music Group Pre-order from 9am AEST 29 April here Lonely Diamond track list: 1. Dahlia 2. Tombstone 3. Way Down 4. Infinity 5. Up In There 6. All Worn Out 7. Stained Glass 8. Lonely Diamond 9. Wet Dreams 10. Hot Chicken 11. Puesta de Sol 12. Luna OCEAN ALLEY AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2021 with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets & Dulcie Tickets on sale now from oceanalley.com.au Saturday 6 February - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney SOLD OUT Sunday 7 February – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Friday 12 February – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane SOLD OUT Saturday 13 February – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane Friday 5 March – Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth Friday 12 March – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide Wednesday 24 March – Melbourne Arena, Melbourne Presented by triple j, Lonely Lands Agency & UNIFIED Music Group Follow Ocean Alley: oceanalley.com.au facebook.com/oceanalleyband twitter.com/oceanalleyau @oceanalleyband](https://thepartae.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/OCEAN-ALLEY-ANNOUNCE-THEIR-HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED.jpg "OCEAN ALLEY ANNOUNCE THEIR HIGHLY ANTICIPATED")
