WOMAD

Dissidenten

From Germany

Where rock intersects with North Africa

Western interest in music from across the globe was, of course, in currency for many, many years before the phrase 'world music' was coined back in 1987. After all, we were already a couple of decades on from The Beatles' absorption of Indian culture and the Rolling Stones first falling in love with the music of Morocco. Dissidenten are no Johnny-come-latelys either, having notched up three decades at the chalkface, in the process being anointed as "the godfathers of worldbeat" by none other than Rolling Stone. Although they'd refuse to put limitations on their inspirations, their primary focus follows Mick and Keef to North Africa, a fascination still held today: their most recent album Tangier Sessions finds them melding the region's music to a meaty rock sensibility. Even though charismatic frontman Hamid Baroudi is no longer in their ranks, a Dissidenten performance remains a heady, exotic ride fuelled by enchanting melodies and diamond-hard rhythms.

(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2011)

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