El Mizan means "the balance" or "balance" in Arabic, but also "the
groove" in the jargon of North African musicians.
The group is first of all the dream and the objective of the journey of the Algerian mandolist Anouar Kaddour Chérif who lands in Switzerland in spring 2017, with a North African musical background (chaâbi, raï, maalouf...) in search of a new fusion, wishing to enlighten traditional knowledge from a new angle.
The project starts with the meeting in Geneva of the guitarist Romain Luder following an announcement posted on the internet!
In the Lausanne underground, it will be the turn of the multi-instrumentalist Sami Grar from Switzerland and Morocco to join the adventure. Anouar and Sami are developing a strong friendship and the project is gaining momentum.
At the end of 2018, two friends from the Canton of Vaud, Romain Magnenat and Damien Converset, respectively percussionist and clarinetist, will take to the stage. The band is finally complete!
The group now composes its pieces in Darija, the Maghrebian dialect. They sing about freedom, taboos, love and the emancipation of peoples in the redefinition of a post-colonial identity.
From traditional music to contemporary savageries, oriental scales mix with western rhythms, or vice versa, in a highly inflammable solution. The resulting nectar is called MAGHROCK!