Izouran

IZOURAN is a Moroccan experimental pop band instigated by Moroccan multiinstumentalist and song-writter Hicham Ounamir and Polish percussionist Borys Slowikowski. Together with the Berlin-based violinist Penelope Gkika, bassist Adam Goodwin, and percussionist Evi Filippou they work with Hicham's original material deeply rooted in Moroccan popular music - mostly from the Souss area. Izouran approaches it as a radical artistic form in itself: radically local, eluding uniformization and nationalization, founded on the continuity of oral transmission, earthbound; radically collective, powered by an elusive ambience that emerges between musicians and the audience, built upon horizontal cooperation of multiple elements; radically sustainable - requiring balanced energy management, aligned with the body, grounded. For Izouran, these qualities mark an exciting area of artistic experimentation that challenges various Western understandings of music.

In the project traditional set of instruments/tools: lotar (plucked string instrument), banjo, violin, bendir, is enriched with guitar effects, deconstructed Western drum kit, electric bass, field recordings, and found objects. Traditional approach to music is met with energy and sensitivity coming from experimental sound explorations.

Izouran means,veins' in Teshlehit. It expresses the circularity of the music, the urge of free flow, the importance of social and family bonds. It also evokes associations with the project's birthplace: the Amazer - a village located by a seasonal river oscillating between drought and flood. The river's dry bed is where most of the recordings for the band's EP (We welcome those who come to us. 2023) were made..