Atlas Soul: Get the CD

Mediterranean melodies and more.

The melting together of various ethnic musical styles is not just a theory or practice for Atlas Soul, the members themselves are literally from all kinds of different countries and backgrounds. The group came together in Boston and it is where they make their homebase. Atlas Soul are: Jacques Pardo (France, Israel): guitar, sax, vocals, Angela Rossi (Italy): vocals, Walid Zairi (Tunisia): electric bass, Oud, percussions, Lucas Leto (USA): drum set, percussions, Jon Simmons (USA): trombone, percussions, Nadwa Al Rifai (Lebanon): vocals. Alan Perez (Cuba): vocals, percussions. Anwar Souini (Morocco): vocals, percussions.Atlas Soul is an award-winning band performing original music that celebrates Afro-Mediterranean culture and rhythm heavily spiced with Jazz and Funk. On their 3rd CD, "Mabrouka" they continue their genre-busting music. On "Angelo Mio" the melody and mood is slow and sultry with a moody trombone floating around the vocal but then the Chorus suddenly features a Drum n' Bass-type drumbeat while everything else remains in the original slow groove. Other tunes such as "Sarah's Groove" and "Sole" and more hard-driving Funk with heavily syncopated rhythms and extended improvisational jams that would not sound out of place at an outdoor Jamband festival. "Quiereme y veras" displays the Oud and Nylon-stringed guitars truly evoking a Mediterranean landscape and all that it entails. In addition to songs being sung in a languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew and English, Atlas Soul as lo espousing a political mind set. The lyrics speak of love, natural wonders, oppression, poverty, and of the melancholy of immigrants longing for their homelands. Their motto is world-music-for-world-peace.- World Rhythm Webzine/ P.R. Brimstone -

It's a rare joy to find an album that can be wholeheartedly recommended to fans of every type of music, and I'm thrilled with Atlas Soul's Chamsa. They've got it all: James Brown/Fela Kuti-style funk workouts, a multitude of Latin rhythms and percussion, catchy hooks and vocal melodies, and some smokin' soloists in Lotfi Tiken (guitar/vox.) and Jacques Pardo (sax/vox.). There's just short of a million guest players in addition to the group's six core members, but the sound is never cluttered, no one ever plays a superfluous note, and the groove is never lost. The whole affair reminds me of a wacky foreign Steely Dan or Los Amigos Invisibles and the Buena Vista Social Club jamming with Baba Maal and Orchestra Baobab. The liner notes explain it best: "Atlas Soul music incorporates many genres: Moroccan Rai, Shaabi, West African Hilife, Socca, Reggae, Samba, Jazz, Funk, and Rock. It might sound a bit ambitious but it comes to us very naturally. Our goal is to transcend over the genres, styles and music trends and to communicate to you-the listener-the passions, emotions, and fun that we share while composing and playing it."
- Michael Baldino, YourSound.com, Inc.
(c)2001, Michael Baldino