La Banda Morisca at Festival du Monde Arabe 2016

La Banda Morisca, a quintet from Spain, combines its original and creative view of traditional music with influences from the South of Mediterranean as well as Flamenco and Andalusian rock.

La Banda Morisca (the Moorish band) was, in the Middle Ages, the fluctuating boundary that separated the Arab-Andalusian kingdom of Granada from the Christian kingdoms of Aragon. It was probably in this no man’s land that traders, nomads as well as Christian and Muslim fugitives came across one another and cohabited, along with the first Gypsies who arrived on the Iberian Peninsula, through whom flamenco music emerged.

La Banda Morisca is a flamenco and Arab-Andalusian septet originating in the rich musical soil formed by the many civilizations that crossed this land overflowing with musicians, poets and adventurers. Consisting of musicians from diverse origins, some of whom were part of the famous group Radio Tarifa, the group’s members have come together and collaborated around an original repertory, centred around the cultural heritage bequeathed by the civilization of Al-Andalus.

In its approach, the group offers a new vision of a repertory that blends eastern and western influences from the Mediterranean (moaxajas, chaâbi, Dahmane el Harachi, Nass el Ghiwan) with the traditional flamenco spirit and Andalusian rock (El Chozas, Lole y Manuel, Triana).