Member Since: 8/7/2006
Band Members:
Amir Jalal (electric, acoustic & slide guitars, guembri, keyboards, vocals); Kevin Hunter (electric guitar, bass, mandolin); Rym Terbeche (vocals); Yousif Sheronick (bendirs & derboukas); Rachid Halihal (oud & violin); Just Triton (drums); Si Mohamed Bechar (qarqabo & percussions).
Influences:
Djilali Ain-Tedles, Frank Zappa, Cheikha Djenia, Phil Lynott, Georges Brassens, Randy Rhoads, Aissa Djarmouni, Blind Reverend Gary Davis, Boudjemii Hgour, Rory Gallagher, Dahmane El-Harrachi, Paul Kossof, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, John Bonham, Rachid Baba-Ahmed, Tommy Bolin, Larbi Batma, Bon Scott...bless their souls......but also fathers, grandfathers, uncles, friends, teachers, women, experiences, trips, memories, hopes, mistakes, dreams, orgasms, rages, observations, beliefs, joys, pains, tears, laughters, fears, moods, stars, exiles, prayers and...You.
Sounds Like:
Born Amir Jalal Zerdoumi in Oran, Algeria, Amir Jalal was very early interested in music and soon became one of those strange heavy-metal kids standing out in the capital of Rai music. After moving to Algiers, he assembled in his college years his first Rock band named Wooshma
with singers Hassan Taibi and Rym Terbeche (ex-Echoes), and bassist Mourad "John" Baraka (who would later join Atakor), guitarist Redouane Tilmati and drummer Said Tamache (who would both join Dzair a few years later). The canadian-based Bosnian drummer Maher Bostandjia also joined the line-up for a while... Amir was also working at the same time as a Radio host and producer, co-directing shows along with Radio star and T34 singer Khaled Louma. After his
move to the USA, he started playing his strange fusion of North African rhythms and guembris and heavy electric and acoustic guitars in places like the Elbow Room, the Knitting Factory, Hunter College and the departed CBGB's in New York City, meeting high level
professionals like Kevin Hunter (Puff Daddy, Al Jarreau, Shania Twain, Janet Jackson...), Rachid Halihal (Souhail Kaspar, Rachid Taha, Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble...) and Yousif Sheronick (Philip Glass, Pacifia Quartet...).
While still a journalist and a college teacher, AJ would slowly focus on recording his ideas and would then use their friendly help to produce a full album called "Meskoon'" ("Possessed"), the black magic story of a kid possessed by a catwoman and the metaphorical recounting of a personal experience.
Released in September 2007, the album proved to be a powerful testimony of Afro-Arab rhythms and instruments and Heavy Rock guitars, with marked references to the Blues. A successful shot at mystico-subversive Rock that owed Amir Jalal the californian AAA award of Algerian-American of the month in March 2008!
-Salim Djaffer, journalist.
Type of Label: Indie