When you hear this album, it doesn't evoke images of a dimly lit metro corridor. Nevertheless, Ahamadia Smis took his first musical steps in the Vieux-Port metro station in Marseille. Back then as a rapper, but now he masters many more music styles. Origines, Smis' first album that is also released in the Netherlands, proves that. For this album Smis looked for inspiration in his native soil. His
… cradle was in the Comoros, an archipelago off the coast of East Africa. The Comoros has been a cultural melting pot for centuries, where influences from the African and Arab world come together. The French (the islands were a French colony until 1975) also left their footprint there. Smis talks more than he actually raps. Here's a storyteller who puts his message above the flow. For the musical interpretation, he opts for local, acoustic string instruments such as the gambusi, the úd and the dzendze. The result is absolutely successful. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to musically explore the lesser known east side of Africa. (PdK)more
