cAfe mirA

Café mira casse les clichés, joue la carte du hors cadre. Leur AfnoRock (ou Rock des Afnords, tel qu’on appelait les maghrébins à l’époque bénie du gouvernement de Vichy) s’affirme sur des bases rythmiques bien soutenues et une énergie inlassable au niveau des transitions et des progressions. Le répertoire est un brassage des genres entre chants afro traditionnels, riffs rock, Reggae-Dub, cuivres Jazzy et ambiances Funk Ska, etc.

Les retrouvailles des deux fondateurs de ce projet fut à Paris, Reda et Amine, après avoir oeuvré dix ans auparavant dans des groupes Hard-Metal à Casablanca. Ce dernier a accumulé une expérience au bled sur les scènes et festivals les plus prestigieux, et notamment avec "Reborn" qui a connu le procès connu sous le nom "l'affaire des rockers satanistes", ou 14 musiciens et fans de metal ont été arrêté pour "pratiques contraire au moeurs" (jouer du Rock, port de tee shirt noir,...) puis relachés grâce à la mobilisation de la société civile au Maroc et d'autres ONG en France, en l'occurence.

Dès le début, le pari de Café Mira a été le partage des richesses et expériences entre ses membres (Algérie, Maroc, France, Italie) et de jouer une "musique de tout les mondes". Les textes sont polyglottes à majorité en darija (langue maghrébine) et abordent les thèmes des libertés individuelles dans les pseudo démokraties, la liberté de circulation, les frustrations liées à toutes les violences réelles et symboliques subies par les citoyens et les sujets des deux rives de la méditerranée.

Après 2 ans d’existence, cAfé mirA est devenu un groupe très prometteur qui dès le début 2005 a acquis un public et a commencé à enflammer les salles les plus populaires de Paris.

Cafe Mira smashes all the cliches you've heard about "world" music with an intensity that bursts through existing genres and frameworks for collaboration. Their "AfnoRock" (that is, the rock of the "Afnords" as the people from the Maghreb were called by the Vichy Government in World War II), is built upon the powerful rhythmic foundations and boundless energy that moves the music between transitions and progressions that haven't been heard before. Their repertoire is a blend of genres that combine traditional African songs, rock riffs, Reggae-Dub basses, jazzy curves, and funk-ska ambiance.

The two founders of the project, Reda and Amine, were reunited in Paris, having worked together closely several years before in the Hard-Metal scene in Casablanca, their home town. With the "Reborn" project, Amine experienced significant success in Morocco, performing at some of the most prestigious festivals in the country, and becoming even more well known because of the infamous "Satanic Metal Affair," in which 14 metal musicians and fans, including him, were arrested and put on trial for "Satan worship" because, among other things, they liked metal, had long hair, and wore black t-shirts. Although jailed briefly, they were ultimately freed by the huge outpouring of protest on their behalf by civil society in Morocco and across the Mediterranean, especially in France.

From the start the members of the group gambled that the combination of musical knowledge and richness of experiences of the members, coming from Algeria, Morocco, France and Italy, and the playing of a "music of all the world" would create a powerful and innovative sound. The lyrics are a pologot blend of tongues, with the majority in Derija (the Arabic of Morocco) and addressing issues of individual freedom in the pseudo (at best) democracies of the Arab world (and increasingly Europe), the right of movement, and the frustrations that emerged from all the violence--real and symbolic--suffered by the citizens and subjects of the two banks of the Mediterranean.

After two years of existence, Cafe Mira is becoming a highly sought after group that shows even greater promise for the future, which is burning up the live music scene in Paris and increasingly across France and beyond.