Morock'n'Roll for Peace

In their "Tanger Sessions," Dissidenten's first studio album in 12 years, the group cultivates the European-Moroccan friendship with a hard rock sound. Stefan Franzen had a listen to the new disk by the World Beat pioneers and spoke with its drummer and producer Marlon Klein

Dissidenten & Jil Jilala (photo: www.dissidenten.com)
A musical "German-Moroccan friendship" – band members of the World Beat pioneers "Dissidenten" and the Moroccan group "Jil Jilala

​​ Many years before the record industry discovered so-called "World Music" as a marketing segment, one German band had already incorporated an "East meets West" philosophy into their pop music. The band Dissidenten was founded in 1981 in Berlin, emerging from the anarchic ethno-jazz project Embryo.

Their debut album "Germanistan" took shape in India, where the three German globetrotters had set up camp in the court of a Maharaja. In 1983, bassist Uve Müllrich, drummer Marlon Klein, and flautist Friedo Josch settled in Tangier to create their breakthrough album "Sahara Elektrik" with the energetic support of the Moroccan group Lem Chaheb, rock rebels who were all the rage in the Maghreb at the time.

The story of Dissidenten has its basis in this groundbreaking work conceived in the Moroccan Mediterranean metropolis. Over the past quarter of a century, they have sporadically issued new disks, including the live "Eurabic" sequel "Live at the Pyramids," the psychedelic "Jungle Book" (1994), and the riveting "Instinctive Traveler" (1999), all with a trademark sound that mixes urban soul and world music.

Yet, the world beat pioneers were always more of a project than a band with a fixed roster of musicians. Their guest list has included the jazzman Charlie Mariano, the south Indian Karnataka College Of Percussion, and numerous Arab singers ranging from Hamid Baroudi to El Houssaine Kili.

Return to the old artistic workshop of Tangier

Today, the band's three main protagonists live in different locations and are busy with various activities. Uve Müllrich works as a musician traveling back and forth between Munich and Tangier, Marlon Klein coordinates his activities as a producer from his base in Bielefeld, and Friedo Josch directs the fortunes of the world music publisher "Exil" from the Franconia region of Bavaria.

Some 25 years after their groundbreaking album, they finally returned to their old artistic workshop and emerged with the new album "Tanger Sessions" – though under completely different circumstances.

"At first, I wanted to make a beautiful acoustic album, just like many others in the world music scene do nowadays," relates Marlon Klein, who in addition to his job as drummer is also a music producer. "But then when I began, I thought that it had to be more aggressive. You just have to turn on the news now to see that something lovely and nice doesn't exactly fit with the spirit of the times in terms of Arab and Western interaction." And so the concept gradually changed while the work was going on bit by bit in the jam sessions in Tangier.

Jil Jilala: The Beatles of North Africa

From the very beginning it was clear that the Arab partners this time would be Jil Jilala. Like Lem Chaheb, they are also among Morocco's rock pioneers from the 1970s, influenced in equal measures by Nouvelle Vague and Woodstock as by the Malhoun, Moroccan urban poetry, and the spiritual music of the Jilala Sufi brotherhood, from which they took their name. They are regarded as the "Beatles of North Africa."

​​ In order to reflect the clash of cultures in their sound, the Dissidenten felt the need for a hard sonic touch. The recording sessions featured three electric guitars, one belonging to Henning Rümenapp, formerly with the Hannover rock stars Guano Apes.

On top of this comes the driving percussion, the unison chorus of Jil Jilala, and the hurdy-gurdies of two avant-garde folk musicians, Elke Rogge and Till Uhlmann. Uve Müllrich imagines that this could be the sound heard in the head of a young American rock fan, who having just enlisted in the army, now finds himself posted to tank duty in Iraq – completely unprepared and torn from his former life.

"The fact that the songs and vocals are so distorted is also a completely intentional stylistic device," explains Marlon Klein. "It is meant to recall the excited commentary by the Arab speakers providing war reports on Al Jazeera and CNN."

For an end to all wars

The "Tanger Sessions," however, do not dwell on apocalyptic scenarios. Instead, the hard sound is contrasted with lyrics expressing the hope for peace and reconciliation, which, unfortunately, are sung in terse English.

The demand for an end to all wars can be heard loudly and is accompanied by an awareness of global brotherhood that eschews thought blinkered by national boundaries. It is a humanist vision capable of prevailing over the fundamentalist trends seen in both Christian and Muslim camps.

The cover displays a merging of the German and Moroccan national colours and features the pentagram seal of Solomon from the Moroccan flag in the centre. It is the traditional symbol of protection and good luck.

An aggressive sound with lyrics expressing a desire for peace – Dissidenten's new "Morock'n'Roll" (the title of the single release from the album) precisely reflects the current perplexities between East and West.

Stefan Franzen

© Qantara.de 2008

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Qantara.de

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