46e Championnat d'Afrique de handball des clubs champions : Derb Sultan-Red Star en demi-finale ce dimanche    Basket / Coup d'envoi du Championnat National d'Excellence (H) 2025–2026 : Tableau de la J1    Finale CDM U20 Chili 25/ Maroc-Argentine : Les Lionceaux à l'assaut de l'Histoire !    Donald Trump impose de nouveaux tarifs douaniers sur les poids lourds et les autocars    Affaire Epstein : Le prince Andrew renonce à ses titres royaux    U20 Maroc-Argentine: Ouahbi assure qu'il n'y a pas d'équipe invincible    Real Madrid : Kylian Mbappé prêt pour le retour contre Getafe après sa blessure à la cheville    Le RSB s'incline face aux Pyramids qui remportent la Supercoupe de la CAF    Settat: Une caravane médicale pluridisciplinaire pour les populations rurales    Les températures attendues ce dimanche 19 octobre 2025    Le temps qu'il fera ce dimanche 19 octobre 2025    Diaspo #411 : Khalid Allali, une passion pour le taekwondo de Beni Mellal à la Belgique    USFP : Driss Lachgar rempile pour un 4e mandat    Marruecos: Corrupción, salud, justicia, carta abierta de un ciudadano marroquí residente en el extranjero al jefe del Gobierno [Tribuna]    Diaspo #411: Khalid Allali, una pasión por el taekwondo desde Beni Mellal hasta Bélgica    Marruecos: Un piloto portugués muere en un accidente durante un rally    Décès du physicien chinois Chen-Ning Yang à 103 ans    Visiter la Chine devient plus facile : de nouvelles mesures facilitant l'accueil des visiteurs étrangers    Des chercheurs marocains conçoivent un système de nettoyage photovoltaïque à film roulant d'un coût modeste    China Eastern Airlines et Royal Air Maroc concluent un accord de partage de codes pour étendre les liaisons aériennes entre la Chine et l'Afrique    L'Algérie en impasse diplomatique après le rapprochement russo-marocain : des manœuvres désespérées vers l'Ukraine révèlent une perte totale de repères    El Jadida : la démolition des cabines de Deauville ou la dissolution d'une strate mémorielle    DGSN: Ouverture d'une enquête pour élucider une tentative de suicide d'un fonctionnaire de police    Sahara Marocain : De Mistura et le confort du Statu quo    Alger snobe Moscou : la brouille silencieuse entre Tebboune et le Kremlin    Pragmatisme russe    Ouahbi veut dépénaliser la faute médicale    Lachgar dénonce "une élite déconnectée" et plaide pour une refondation politique    ONU : près d'un milliard de personnes pauvres menacées par les catastrophes climatiques    Sahara marocain : Washington soumet un projet de résolution entérinant le plan d'autonomie    Cybersécurité : la société bretonne Ornisec fait du Maroc le pivot de son expansion africaine    Marché avicole : l'association des éleveurs alerte sur les dérives des prix des poussins    Semaine dans le rouge pour la Bourse de Casablanca    La délégation de l'USFP-France dénonce les conditions du congrès national et annonce son boycott    Le Policy Center for the New South publie une étude sur la «ruse psychopolitique» qui alimente la fracture entre générations, en marge du mouvement de la Gen Z-212    "Yallah' Afrika", une exposition collective à Rabat célébrant la CAN Maroc 2025    Flottille vers Gaza : L'incarcération en Israël de deux Marocains s'invite à l'ONU    Après le discours royal, des institutions mobilisées pour des rencontres avec les jeunes    Mondial U17 féminin : Le Maroc s'incline face au Brésil    La mémoire de Hassan Ouakrim honorée lors d'une projection documentaire à Washington    John Bolton, la voix de l'Algérie à Washington, risque la taule après son inculpation    La Nuit de l'Horreur transforme les cinémas marocains en labyrinthes du frisson    L'humeur : Diane Keaton, au cinéma comme à la vie    Jalil Tijani en tournée : Un nouveau spectacle « habitus » entre rires et vérités    SM le Roi adresse un message de condoléance au Président kényan suite au décès de l'ancien Premier ministre Raila Odinga    Festival du Cinéma Méditerranéen de Tétouan : la 30e édition lève le voile sur sa sélection officielle    Le compositeur marocain Youssef Guezoum en lice pour les Grammy Awards 2025    Sous le Haut Patronage de S.M. le Roi, un opéra de la Fondation El Akademia Masterclass célèbre le cinquantenaire de la Marche Verte    







Merci d'avoir signalé!
Cette image sera automatiquement bloquée après qu'elle soit signalée par plusieurs personnes.



Diaspo # 19 : Solen Souleimane Benabadji dreams of «conquering Morocco with music»
Publié dans Yabiladi le 29 - 05 - 2021

A member of the Austrian group Desert May Bloom, French-Moroccan Solen Souleimane Benabadji currently lives in Vienna. Attached to the country which saw him grow, he dreams of performing in Morocco but also of introducing other influences and musical riches, especially Moroccan and Oriental, to the West.
He is a guitarist, a drummer and a big fan of Gnaoua and Tuareg music, Solen Souleimane Benabadji did «something other» than music, for a big chunk of his life, before finally achieving his dream. In 2019, he decided to resign from his position in the family business in Morocco and settle down in Austria, starting a new musical career.
Born in Casablanca in 1993, Solen Benabadji spent a good part of his life traveling. From the United States to France, his family finally settled down in Morocco, when he was 10 years old. The young musician then lived between Mohammedia and Casablanca. At 18, he packed up for Montpellier, to start studies in sales and marketing. Eventually, he would end up dropping out, to discover the world. He then decided to spend a year and a half in Australia then four months in South America.
Back in Morocco again, Solen Benabadji went on a world tour that took him, with his family, to 16 countries in one year, as part of a project. «The objective was to live in a remote village with little infrastructure and connection with the urban world and learn how the local population lives and manages its resources», the French-Moroccan explained, while talking about the Open-Villages project launched by his family.
«During my travels, I have experienced a lot of things and this has allowed me to keep an open mind. It influenced me a lot in my choice to follow atypical choices».
Solen Benabadji
An atypical choice devoted to music
These trips have influenced his life choices indeed and pushed him to launch a parallel project which consisted of recording the tribal music of the villages he visited. «I have never released these recordings which allowed me to learn a lot in terms of sounds and influenced my way of making music», he said.
Back again to Morocco in 2016, Solen Benabadji worked for three years in the family business. The Open-Villages project was then put into practice in Morocco, in the form of a development association for Moroccan villages. «Each time, I did something other than music although I had this desire to devote myself to it for a very long time. Coming back to Morocco this time, I felt like an alien», he explained.
The musician left his job to realize his dream. Aware of the fact that it would be «very complicated» to make a career at home, the French-Moroccan then joined a musician friend he had met in Argentina and settled down in Vienna, Austria. «So we decided to relaunch his group and hired other musicians», he added. After months of work, the group released their first single in January and plan to release one every three months, despite the pandemic.
The band, financially supported by the Austrian state, benefited from this period to refine its strategy. «It is true that Covid-19 also affected us as musicians, because we were not able to play music in concerts, but at the same time, it allowed us to build our project on much more solid foundations», the Desert May Bloom guitarist recalled.
«It was really hard to stay motivated, because as musicians we like to play on stage, to have an audience and to feel emotions. In a year and a half, we only did three concerts, which was very little. But we managed to do it while being more efficient».
Solen Benabadji
An «artistic residency» in Morocco next year
On a personal level, the musician however acknowledges having been affected by the pandemic as it prevented him from returning often to visit his family and friends and to replenish in Morocco. Attached to the Kingdom, he tells us that his dream remains to «be able to play in Morocco on a big stage». «I don't know if I'm more into Mawazine or the Gnawa Festival, but I know that the Atlas Electronic Festival in Marrakech sometimes invites foreign groups», he explained. «Conquering Morocco with music would be a huge dream», he went on.
Solen Benabadji also recalls that the band planned to organize an «artistic residency in Morocco» this summer to «work on an album and songs and perform at the end», but that this project has been postponed for next year. «For the moment, we have a strategy of focusing on Europe instead of going everywhere, but very quickly, Morocco will be our objective», he promises.
«To me, it's very important that Europe know how to appreciate something other than just rock or pop music and is also interested in oriental music. In Morocco, I am a fan of Gnawa and Saharan music and if I want to be a musician, it is by introducing other influences and musical riches to the West».
Solen Benabadji
The French-Moroccan promises to soon release «oriental influences and probably Gnawa in one way or another», in the songs of Desert May Bloom, affirming that this «is something that [is] close to his heart».


Cliquez ici pour lire l'article depuis sa source.