“…witty, adventurous and addictive…“ THE OBSERVER MUSIC MONTHLY - June 2004 (Charlie Gillett) “…a work of pure emotion that needs no translation…” NEW INTERNATIONALIST - August 2004 (Louise Gray) “…a frantic melange of Arabic classical music and hip hop…” MOJO - July 2004 (David Hutcheon) “…the sound of generations and nations merging…“ WAVE MAGAZINE - May 2004 (Dina Cohen) Aïwa is a collective created to ignore artificial borders between musical styles. It was founded in 1998 by Wamid and Naufalle, two Iraqi brothers brought up in France, who were looking for mixing their musical practice (bass for Wamid and percussions, guitar and Arabic rap for his brother) to their growing interest for electronical music they were producing. They’re trying to make the classical Arabic music heard from their parent’s records (Om Kalsoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Fairuz…) meeting with the western music. This collective has been completed by : Majdo (drums and programming), Waldo (flute), Mathias (guitar and special effects) Koulechov (turntables), Swank (ragga toasting), Severine (female singer and programming as well) and Gaël (saxophone and ethnic instruments). Their meeting in 2002 with the Canadian label Wikkid records is a milestone for the band with the release of their first album in 2003, licensed worldwide : (Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Algeria…) Aïwa keeps on playing live electronical stuff in a band and made more than 150 concerts all around France but also in Switzerland, Morocco, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, England and Italy. This allowed them meeting several artists as Tricky for a jam session or a band of traditional morocco trance whom they’re preparing a record with. # 1 track on the « World 2004 » compilation 2004 – Wrasse Records ( UK/ Compiled by Charlie Gillett ) st # 1 album Released 2003 - Wikkid records # 6 tracks EP "Yi Yi " September 2002 - Wikkid records # 3 tracks EP "Azeri" 2001 – Kerig distribution # 1 track on the «Alternative Novo Dub » compilation 2000 – Hi subway recordings

CONCERTS

Montreux Jazz Festival 2001, Transmusicales 2000, Marrakech Fusion 2001, Printemps Bourges 2001, Astrolabe, Batofar, Nouveau Casino, Olympic… Concerts with Rachid Taha, High Tone, DJ Vadim, Meï Teï Shô, Zebda, Zenzile… Management/Tour : Jérôme - +33 (0)6 72 70 54 06 – [email protected] Aïwa - c/o Sensitive - 51, bd de l' Egalité - 44100 Nantes www.aiwa.fr.fm / [email protected]

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Aïwa – UK Press MOJO - JULY 2004 - Album review by David Hutcheon They’ve been around for six years, but this is their debut album from the French-Iraqi So Solid Crew or Asian Dub Foundation, a frantic melange of Arabic classical music and hip hop, with scatter gun vocals, turntables beats, heavy basslines, ragga toasting, string samples, flutes and hand drums. Something tells me they will be astonishing live.

WAVE - MAY/JUNE 2004 - Reviewed by Dina Cohen

NEW INTERNATIONALIST - JULY 2004 - Album reviewed by louise Gray - Aïwa by Aïwa While France in recent years has proved a crucible of boiling up some amazing sounds from the collision of Arabic, African and DJ cultures, there have been few bands that have really pushed the envelope. Aïwa, founded in 1998 in the French City of Rennes by Iraqi bassist and rapper Naufalle do just that. Their self-titled debut album is one where you learn to expect surprises. It opens simply enough: an Arabic wail of Yiyi gives way to woodwind and drums before it is caught up by Severine, a chanteuse whose darkly moody vocals constitute one of the highlights. And then she is gone: overtaken by fast paced grooves, blistering rap from Swank and , from DJ Koulechov, rimshot beats that ricochet with energy of their own. At other times, sounds emerge that have an imagination and association of their own. Could that be a coiled spring being stoked on Azeri ? And what is the dispassionate lyric a text from a medical pharmacology book, perhaps being intoned on Poz ?If a minor downside is that the lyrics aren’t always audible and that the sleeve offers no notes, then it’s made up for on Aïwa’s nine-minute closer, Baghdad. A rampage of groove, rap and prayer, it¹s a work of pure emotion that needs no translation.

DJ Magazine - ‘Beats & Breaks’ playlist late November 2004

AÏWA - 6th on playlist Brilliant French / Iraqi live band, with prominent hip-hop and dub influences topped by good vocalists and traditional Iraqi sounds.