MED’SET ORKESTRA OFFICIEL

Music:

Member Since: 12/17/2007
Band Members:

The artists from the Med’Set Orkestra are all both renowned masters of their art, and fervent enthusiasts of traditional Mediterranean music. But most important, they all share this fundamental conception of music: as far as it may come, as deep as it may be set in a local culture and an ancient transmission, nowadays, it has to live only coloured and full of meetings and journeys that make our era.

Music is a common sea, where the inhabitants of all the shores are able to find themselves.

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- - AKIM EL SIKAMEYA - - Voice/Violin Arab-Andalusia Artistic Director

Akim was born in Oran, the music capital of Algeria. At the age of 8, he starts learning the violin and Arab-Andalusia singing, a music born in Spain, from the meetings and exchanges between the three monotheists cultures. This learning gives him not only the basics of a solid music culture, but also and especially a life philosophy, based on a melting-pot experience.
He arrived in Marseille during the Algerian turbulence (1994), and is soon noticed for his rare voice, his unique way of playing violin (standing up, the instrument laid of his thigh) and his Mediterranean charisma. He then quickly signs with an independent label, which makes his first album (Atifa-Oumi) come out in 1999.
After a promising tour, during which he played prestigious first part concerts (Alain Souchon, Julien Clerc, Noa, Cesaria Evora, Khaled …), Akim’s second album, Aïni-Amel, comes out, entirely written and composed by himself.
This second opus, very varied, makes him become the International WOMAD Festival favourite in 2004. Akim then continues with a triumphal tour, up until 2006, in the different reception towns of this itinerant festival: Les Palmas, Madrid, London (Live 8), Singapore… as well as other tours in the world (India, Spain, Sicily…).
Today, Akim El Sikameya’s 3rd album, Un Chouia d’Amour, comes out, in which he has managed to preserve the philosophy of his Asian origins (the taste of melody, the melting-pot of cultures, the defence of art and freedom against power) as well as opening a new path, which is from now on, his. At the same time, he becomes artistic director of the Med’Set project: a band in accordance with his image, tanned, Mediterranean, and full of exchanges and life.

- - CUSTODIO CASTELO - -
Portuguese Guitar

Custodio Castelo was born in music, at Almeirim. At the young age of seven, he builds himself his first instrument, and at sixteen, while listening to the recordings of Amalia Rodrigues, he discovers the sound of the portuguese guitar, which he has never abandoned since.
Considered as a prodigy since his youngest age, his talent and his audacious approach towards the portuguese guitar have been approved by the most demanding “fadistas”, such as D. Vicente da Câmara, Manuel de Almaida, Fernando Farinha, Cidàlia Moreira … His originality and his geniality consist both in a irreproachable virtuosity and in a rare capacity to blend in, with grace, diverse foreign influences (mostly tango) to a perfect knowledge of the traditional portuguese guitar.
This adaptability allowed him to share the stage with the greatest musicians, such as Richard Galliano (accordion), Daniele di Bonaventura (bandoneon), Ben Wolf (double bass), Leonardo Amuedo (classical guitar) … but also accompany the most demanded singers, like Misia, Cristina Branco and most importantly Amalia Rodrigues …
Moreover, it is with Cristina Branco, that Custodio Castelo’s talent was the most revealed: for Cristina Branco, he brings the art of the portuguese guitar to it’s excellence, between innovation and tradition. He played, arranged and composed all of the singer’s albums, including the international success Corpo Iluminado (2001).
Finally, by himself, Custodio Castelo is also worldwide appreciated, appearing in the biggest festivals: Belo Horizonte Festival (Brazil), World Music Festival of Philadelphia (USA), International Rabat Festival (Morocco), North Sea Jazz festival (Dan Hag, Haia), Southern Festival (France) …

- - MARA ARANDA - -
Valencian Voice

Mara Aranda, composer, poet and valencian singer has done strong literature and art studies, and has been writing songs since her youngest age.
Great protector of the Mediterranean culture, she got known by taking part in numerous projects such as Cendraires, L’Ham de Foc, or Aman Aman.
L’Ham de Foc, founded with Efrén Lopez, explores the sonorities of more rare and ancient instruments, with the desire to make them accessible to a larger public. Their first albums, U (1999) and Cançô de Dona i Home, were therefore welcomed by the Spanish radios and allowed them to perform in many festivals, such as Folk Segovia, Folk Rural (Vallfogona del Ripollès), Strictly Worldwide Music (Zaragoza), Tradicionàrius, Girona Folk, Encontros Msicais da Tradiçao Europeia (Musical encounters of European Tradition (Guimaraes-Portugal), Mare Nostrum (València), Sete Sois Sete Lùas, Etnosur …
L’Ham de Foc’s last album, filled with ottoman music (it was recorded in six months at Thessalonique) has touched an international audience.
Both an expert of traditional valencian and sefarad music, and a remarkable charismatic interpreter, Mara Aranda is unanimously approved as an incontrovertible folk singer.

- - RICCARDO TESI - -
Tuscan Accordion

Riccardo Testi, pioneer of Italian ethnic music, is both composer and instrumentalist. Since his beginnings in 1978, he dedicated himself to the diatonic accordion, trying to enlarge the classical vocabulary and technique of this instrument, to more modern universes, and confront with passion his Tuscan heritage to other music styles (Basque, French, Madagascan, Jazz …) ; he was the first Italian to dedicate a hole album to diatonic accordion.
Very quickly, Riccardo Testi met renowned musicians from all horizons, with whom he plays on stage: the Tuscan-Sardinian group Ritmia, the mandolin player from Nice Patrick Vaillant, the diatonic accordion trio Trans Europ Diatonique with Kirkpatrick, Perrone and Junkera, the Madagascan Justin Vali, the Sardinian singer Elena Ledda, the harpist Vincenzo Zitello, the guitarist Beppe Gambetta, and great Italian singers like Ivano Fossati, Fabrizio De André, Ornella Vanoni, Gianmaria Testa, Giorgio Gaber and Carlo Muratori.
In addition, Riccardo Testi also participated in great events: in 1996, under the aegis of the French Culture Minister and the “Grand Soufflet” festival, he composed the music “Viaggio in Italy”, for an orchestra of 80 instruments; in 2002, he composed the music for the “Italy Tour” opening ceremony in Groningen (Netherlands), for a orchestra of 100 instruments; since 2001, he has been the “Sentieri Acustici” festival music director, under the aegis of the Pistoia Province (Italy).
Since 1980, he has been teaching the diatonic accordion, and has shared his educational methods in the first Italian book, based on the question: “Organetto diatonico”, edited by Berben.

- - RITA BOTTO - -
Sicilian Voice

Rita Botto was born in Catena, city of the Etna. Self-taught and versatile singer, with astonishing voice capacities, she has instructed singing at the “Modern Music” school of Ferrare, then at the “Baule dei Suoni” theatre school at Bologne, when she nowadays lives.
Impressed by the great folk artist Rosa Balistreri’s songs, Rita Botto has always tried to promote, as her, the treasures of the Sicilian popular music. She has dedicated to Rosa Balistreri her auto-produced album Ethnea. The name is a play on words between “ethnic” and “Etna”, which symbolizes the renewal of Sicilian music.
But it is thanks to the album Stranizza d’Amuri, which came out in 2004, that Rita Botto became well known by a larger public, receiving the critics’ unanimous approval, Italian as well as foreign.
She has also collaborated with important artists such as Alfio Antico, Antonio Marangolo, I Lautari, Roy Paci and Carmen Consoli.
Her stage appearances always impress, thanks to her singing technique, which is so particular, due to the fact that she uses a vase as a sound box.Her new disk, Donna Rita, has just come out, in more than 10 countries.

- - VASILIS PAPAGEORGIOU - -
Epirote Clarinet

Vasilis Papageorgiou was born in Ioannina in 1978, in a musician family.
He has been living with traditional epirote music since his youngest age, and starts to learn the clarinet at the age of 13. Very quickly, he interests himself in Byzantine music. He therefore leaves for the Athens University, in order to improve his knowledge and study ethnomusicology. He then decides to dedicate himself to the traditional music, and more precisely clarinet.
He has notably studied epirote music threw the works of renowned and experienced musicians, like Tasos Xalkias and Stavros Kapsalis. In 2001, he obtains his Byzantine music diploma and in 2003, his musicology diploma, at the Athens music department University.
Since, he has improved his knowledge of epirote music according to its different modalities in the ethnic subcultures of Epire. He performs clarinet during public celebrations, cultural events or private parties. He also takes part in numerous festivals, in Greece as well as abroad.

Record Label: LILA RECORDS/FESTIVAL SETE SOIS
Type of Label: Indie