AMïRA SAQATI ( Amïra = a piece of .... , Saqati = a "thing", non-definite meaning,slang expression, mostly used as a substitute for rude or offending words = A piece of a thing . Now guess what !!! ) is a sideprojectband of 4 Aisha Kandisha`s Jarring Effects members, where Maghrebian roots are a general starting point, from where the sound structures are getting developped in different crossover directions such as Shabee (Track 1), Melhoune (Track 2), Gnawa (Tracks 3,6,11), Trance Raï (Tracks 4,7,8,10), Raï "sentimental" in memory of Cheb Hasni (Tracks 5,9), or the Saqati Agdal style, feat. bad Hooligans from the Wydad Casablanca/Raja vs. the Kaoukab Marrakech and some spaced out Agdal Reptiles on Majoun .
23 year old Cheb Youssef ( Lead Vocals,Synth.,Violin,Perc. ) , who became in 1994 the new Aisha Kandisha`s Jarring Effects keyboarder and background singer to replace Cheb Qchatar`s guitar for the live shows, began already as a 12 year old child playing the violin in different Shabee and Melhoune bands at weddings,feasts and Ramadan nights. Learning the mandolin,guitar,accordeon and piano at the conservatory of Marrakech, he`s now mainly busy with keyboards and sequencers, playing in Raï clubs as a solo artist. This is his very first recording for the Northafrican and Western market, a second album is already in preparation and should be released in april 1996. His first appearance on an AKJE album is planned for 1996 and will certainly bring a new dimension to the whole concept. Jamal M Said ( Bass,Voc.,Perc.and Drums ) is the future drummer of AKJE and will be introduced for the 96 recordings and touring . Mohamed Kbirr ( Viol.,Flute, Mandol.), is already known for his work with AKJE on "El Buya" and "Shabeesation", as for his intense live presence during the shows . Pat Jabbar ( Synth.,Progr.,Production and Mixing ) . Agdal Reptiles on Majoun , is the story of a snake leaving it`s body to get reincarnated with it`s soul and habits into a Jedba - ( Trance ) musician, leading him to an unknown consciousness of aural sensations and got inspired by " Allal " from Paul Bowles, where a Majoun eater has a strange relationship with a snake and achieves his own reincarnation into the reptiles body and is finally getting killed by the peolple of his village . Agdal normally means garden, but because of a famous psychatric hospital in Marrakech called Agdal, it became another way for the youth to say:crazy or freaked out . Majoun is a dark sticky paste made out of cannabis butter, honey, nuts and spices, with a guaranteed hallucinating side-effect. There might be in both stories or experiences a parallel line of going to the limit of a state of mind with transmutations. Either by becoming the animal or by coming from the animal into the person, captured by Majoun. ( Maybe you will remember "El Buya " with The Chameleon / Dog experience ). The music, is in one way the antithesis between a certain image of the transformed subject into a snake and the Majoun Brainfood eaten by the snake to become a human being on Amira Saqati ... seen ??? The synthesis of a romantic Love/Death balance and a political Raï/Algeria/Death related understanding, is up to your ability of following Moroccan Dadaism . Anyway, you might see more if you come to check out one of the shows in November / December ( Dates on the back ) . AMïRA SAQATI LIVE ON TOUR WITH AISHA KANDISHA´S JARRING EFFECTS