An improviser, composer and globetrotter of world music, Manuel Hermia has multiplied musical encounters with the Orient. His project «Le murmure de l’Orient /The Murmur of the Orient» (published in 2 volumes on the Igloo-Mondo label) offered music nourished by both the ragas of India, Arab maqams and all the cultures of the Orient. He can also be found playing with the trio of the Moroccan oud/guembre player Majid Bekkas as well as Mamady Keita (djembé, Guinea), Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar, India), Dhruba Ghosh (sarangi, India), Manou Gallo (bass, Ivory Coast) and Guo Gan (erhu, China).

His new album «Bahdja» unveils a new encounter, that of the Algerian violinist Kheireddine Mkachiche, master of Arabic-Andalusian music and noted for his openness (L.Subramaniam, Dhafer Youssef, Nguyên Lê, Jon Hassell), a tradition he keeps alive by playing with Manuel Hermia. Algeria, due to its geographical location, has always been an inexhaustible source of cultural and musical encounters between the East, the West and deep Africa. «Bahdja» takes us there on a musical journey rich in emotions where moments of gentleness and intimacy meet the fiery groove of devilish solos.

“Bahdja” is a testimony to an encounter between musicians accustomed to navigating a multitude of styles, and who play to transgress these stylistic boundaries to remind us that music is One above all, just as our humanity is.

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