Join us at Small World’s home base for a festival preview! Experience the rousing 11-member Algerian/French brass band Fanfaraï, renowned for their manic shows, where a battery of horns, percussion, North African raï, Balkan beats and jazz collide into one big party!

"French from Britany, French Algerians, French Moroccans, French who suddenly discover that they are Algerians, jazz musicians who suddenly discover a passion for the Maghrebian 6/8... and begin to sing in Arabic, Berber or Turkish and to dance like the Gnawa... These musical adventurers make up the Fanfarai band, a Rai mutant grown in the copper sun of North Africa which breathes intercultural harmony and offers a sensory journey to the southern shores of the Mediterranean,Turkey and elsewhere. "

Fanfarai emerged in 2005 under the direction of Samir Inal. After creating Ziyara a traditional Algerian street band in 2000 he met with musicians coming from jazz and salsa bands and decided to readapt with them the traditional and popular repertoire for a brass band. Fanfarai goes along the same line as the tradition of these street orchestras, called "Idbalen" or "Zernadjia" that animated rituals and feasts in Algeria from the beginning of the century till the 1970's.

These bands used to perform in public squares and streets during festive events. Fanfarai combine the saxophones, congas, trumpets, trombone, drums or the tuba with traditional instruments, readapting repertoire and introducing Afro-Cuban, Salsa, Latin and jazz influences. North African music has never been played this way and this is what makes Fanfarai so original and the project so successful.