SUPER STAMBELI IS OUT !
At times where technology inexorably infuses into humankind, Ammar808’s next adventures lays within the realms of Stambeli’s invisible creatures, an old genuine Tunisian tradition that has roots spreading out within the depths of the African continent.
Using drum machines and analog synthesizers, he summons super natural creatures to visit our material world and taste human incarnations, form the audience’s collective experience. The album features vocals and gumbri from Bellassan Mihoub, who inherited his father’s knowledge and mastery, and currently embodies the avant-guarde of Stambeli’s revival. Two additional choristers round off the stage band, also playing the krekebs: these are pairs of large castagnet-like instruments oscillating in the limbo between binary and ternary rhythmic patterns. They breathe life and motion into this pagan communion, blessed by VJ Sia original visuals synchronized to the thundering music.
Super Stambeli is a contemporary interpretation of the Stambeli traditional repertoire, processed through a time-travel washing-machine, a parallel-dimension earthquake portal, that aims to echoes ancestral ceremonies through sub-harmonic speakers. It’s a dialogue between the wailing of the gombri, known to call for the spirits to descend into the bodies of the participants, but this time AMMAR808 directs them straight into the digital circuits of his clockwork-crafted machineries.
Here come the digital spirits.
➜ Super Stambeli is now Available on all platforms : https://alterk.lnk.to/SuperStambeli
"GLOBAL CONTROL / INVISIBLE INVASION" is OUT !
AMMAR 808’s previous album Maghreb United (2018) – a powerful mixture of
deep TR-808 bass and Pan-Maghreb beats and voices – received widespread
critical acclaim and shook dancefloors throughout Europe, North Africa
and beyond. This time Brussels-based Tunisian electronic producer
Sofyann Ben Youssef (aka AMMAR 808) has travelled to the Tamil Nadu
region of southern India for a breath-taking new adventure. With a
suitcase full of recording equipment, he set up base in the pulsing city
of Chennai and undertook a collaborative reimagining of the area’s rich
and resonant musics. Ranging from trance temple sounds to rap-like
street theatre performance and ending with the mathematical richness of
Carnatic music, Ben Youssef’s in situ recordings form the foundation of
his potent new album: Global Control / Invisible Invasion.
VIDEO PREMIERE: MARIVER GATI featuring susha
Taken from the upcoming album “Global Control / Invisible Invasion” out Sep 18th 2020 on Glitterbeat Records.
“Except you, Divine mother, who else in this earth is to protect us ?
The ones who fall on your feet, giving up completely their ego,
you protect them, take care of them.
Meenakshi I believe in you.”
This is the opening track of the upcoming new album of Ammar 808, who this time travelled to Chennai in south India for a new breath-taking new adventure.
The track is a ode of devotion to the goddess Meenakshi, who is an avatar of Parvati, the hindu goddess of Fertility, love, and devotion.
Ammar 808 collaborated on this track with the Carnatic singer Susha, producing a unique ever made version of the Carnatic song “Marivere gati”
Many other collaborations to be discovered in the upcoming album release of “GLOBAL CONTROL / INVISIBLE INVASION”
watch "ain essouda" music video
a music video directed by the Tunisian director Ahmed Ayed, for the song “Ain essouda” from the “Maghreb United” album, released on Glitterbeat Records.
Let the inner animal out !!
ELECTRONIC GLOBAL BASS PRODUCER
” Picture this : a blade runner sent overseas is looking for replicants in Tunis, Tunisia. The manhunt ends in a sweltering basement club where a Roland TR-808 drum machine is pumping over gnawa trance music. The floor is packed with Pan-like creatures – part man, part goat. The target crawls through the crowd, before vanishing without a trace. Outside, street protests demanding the alien government step down are getting grim. This might be one of the scenes AMMAR 808 envisioned when producing his debut album, Maghreb United. Who knows? ” SUBBACULTCHA (Hannes Rooms)
"MAGHEB UNITED" is OUT !
Deep TR-808 bass meets pan-Maghreb beats, timeless voices and futurist visions. AMMAR 808 is Sofyann Ben Youssef, the sonic mastermind behind the Tunisian sensation: Bargou 08.
The future is right now. We have driverless cars, robots taking over jobs, and commercial space travel is on the event horizon. Somehow, humanity has slipped into a science fiction life. But you can’t have a future without a past, something AMMAR 808 knows very well. On his debut release, Maghreb United, featuring the singers Mehdi Nassouli (Morocco), Sofiane Saidi (Algeria) and Cheb Hassen Tej (Tunisia), he connects the two to offer a radical, electronic reinvention of ancient North African music.