WOMAD

U-cef & the Halal Joint

From Morocco

"Arabic drum and bass. We’ve heard that one fifty times and it never works. Well this time it works!" This was how the leading French dance and techno magazine Trax greeted the release of U-cef’s debut album ‘Halalium’ on Apartment 22 Records. The idea of bringing together the super-rich musical heritage of Morocco with the 21st century attack of hip hop, drum and bass, house and garage had been floating around in the head of U-cef, aka Moulay Youssef Adel, ever since he quit Morocco on an army freight plane bound for the USA in the late eighties. U-cef survived six years of life as a penniless immigrant musician in New York, jamming and collaborating with the likes of Hassan Hakmoun and the Giant Step collective, before moving to London in the mid 1990s.There he discovered the potential of sampling, sequencing and other digital studio wizardry and began to apply his extensive musical experience as a drummer and deep knowledge of his native music traditions to the job of forging an utterly new sound. ‘Halalium’ was over two years in the making and involved several trips to Morocco to collect raw material. The result was a ground-breaking amalgam of melhoun, gnawa, chaabi, break beats, drum and bass and hip hop. U-cef will be joined by the Halal Joint Soundsystem which features DJ Raf on decks, Sweetman on the mic and Elan Polushko on guitars and trumpet.July 2000