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FAREES – GALACTIC AFRICA / BLINDSIGHT (OUT JUNE 3 ON REZ’ARTS PROD)
Neo-funk producer, multi-instrumentalist, and spoken word revolutionary Farees will be releasing two new albums on June 3 through French label Rez’Arts Prod, tempering political outrage on Blindsight with afrobeats in a love letter to the motherland on Galactic Africa.
“Brother Farees carries ancient spirits direct from the Black pool of genius. His guitar playing is always masterful and his singing will transport you. Farees has taken the old wisdom and has come up with new music that puts you in a trance while it bids you to dance,” says American blues musician Corey Harris (Ali Farka Touré, Billy Bragg, Wilco).
Over the years, Farees has made fans of greats like Taj Mahal and Ben Harper, and has collaborated with Calexico and most recently, Leo Nocentelli of legendary funk pioneers, The Meters (who’s featured on Blindsight). “Farees reminds me of the greats,” Nocentelli says. “He’s got that Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix vibe, yet he’s doing his very own thing. Ain’t nobody around playing and grooving like him. He’s a superstar! I’m really glad to be a part of this project.”
Farees has traveled the world, witnessing and experiencing the injustice of oppressed people: as a North African nomad, a member of Saharan psych-rock outfits Tinariwen and Terakaft, being racially profiled and detained while on tour both in America and Europe, receiving death threats while touring in Canada, and spending significant time in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and western Europe. His multiracial background of Saharan Tuareg tribe (Black and Berber) on his mother’s side, and Italian & German on his father’s side has allowed him to both pass as white, and bond with Black and Muslim communities.
To be racially ambiguous feels really weird sometimes. The irony is that for me the rejection came more from white people. I have a strong African identity; I grew up there and my family is from there. For me, while the black community does have internal divisions and biases, it’s still an inclusive community. Other communities seem more exclusive. You’re never accepted as white if you’re not 100% white, or 100% Arab, or Chinese, and so on.”
Helmed by a veritable Tuareg songwriter and visionary, Galactic Africa is a transient record devoid of Western exoticism, and marked by Farees’ expert artistry and knowledge of African rhythm and spirit. The opening cadence underscores these rudiments with MC Rocky P (AKA The Big Twin) introducing Farees’ strategic production stamp: “Galactic Africa is a composition of blue notes that can’t be written, learned or taught/Only given out in quotes/And it’s all built upon a huge wall of groove/So that y’all can think while your asses move.”
Meanwhile, on its companion, Blindsight is the soundtrack to our modern revolution while giving homage to the radical musical eras of the late ‘60s Black Panthers in the U.S. to mid-’80s Thomas Sankara in Africa. Kicking off with an innovative take on “Hey Joe” – made famous by Farees’ musical hero Jimi Hendrix – it sets a tone for the record by bringing us back to the turbulent civil rights era of the late ‘60s when the song was originally released.
Revolutionary actions have been popping off around the world in reaction to the abuses of those in power, often blamed on a few bad apples instead of recognizing oppressive police states. “Bad Apples” attacks with aggressive synths and a Stevie Wonder charm, while demanding that we take action and hold people responsible. “What you call cancel culture, I call accountability,” Farees sings. This is yet another song about the slippery slope of joining the side of the oppressor in a broken system, a theme of this record.
His first record, Mississippi to Sahara, (released under the name Faris) , adapted the traditional rural blues of Mississippi in a Tuareg desert style. The success of this album allowed him to play some of the biggest stages in the world. In 2020, he released Border Patrol and Both Sides of the Border, a vast collection of genre-hopping, guitar-heavy protest songs calling out injustices perpetrated by the status quo, including “Y’all Don’t Know What’s Going On” with Calexico.
“I’m a radical and revolutionary,” says Farees, “but a realistic one. I’m thinking about the world as it is. For me, we can use the internet to connect and reach more people to keep them informed through The Kinship app, responsible social media. It’s like an instrument. Like music between the music itself and the player. I’m trying to build new paths, and not just for me. But for others that will come after me. Music heals for free, makes you think, learn, see things from different perspectives. It moves people. And from moving comes movement. And from movement comes change.”