Tunisian born and raised in France, Paris-based musician Jean-Pierre Smadja (Smadj) grew up listening to Middle Eastern, Brazilian, funk, soul, and folk music. Entering a jazz school at age 15 due to his intense interest in the guitar, Smadj’s musical development came to be characterized by transforming traditional jazz styles into eclectic sounds. This interest in the mechanics of making music led Smadj to pursue a degree in sound engineering, which led to a fruitful career as a recording & sound engineer for famous classical and folk musicians.
Releasing his first album in 1994, it was not until 2000 that Smadj became recognized on an international scale for his signature blending of acoustic and electronic sounds on Equilibriste, which would ascend on the European World Music Charts to the number 4 position.
In 2002, Smadj joined fellow ud wizard, Algerian-French musician Mehdi Haddab, for a special project that would transport the oud to the 21st century, a duo called DuOud. Supporting their triumph of an album with a 2-year world tour, the album also received 2nd place in the Best Album category at the prestigious BBC World Music Awards.
In 2003, Smadj joined master percussionist Burhan Ocal for and the Trakya All Stars featuring Smadj, and in 2005 he stepped behind the scenes to serve as artistic director for Burhan Ocal’s New Dream. Smadj continued making music in Istanbul for a few years.
Smadj released his fifth album with Erik Truffaz and Talvin Singh. Later, he worked on traditional and sacred music with his Alevi friend, Cem Yildiz.
He also composed “The oud according Smadj” performed in St Denis Basilica in June 2010 including Natacha Atlas, Ibrahim Maalouf, Cem Yildiz, Mehdi Haddab, Alok Verma, and a string ensemble.
Smadj released “Fuck the DJ” (2012), a musical journey where he mixed Middle Eastern music with disco and dubstep beats.
“Spleen” was released in 2015 on the french label Jazz village featuring jazz players like Bojan Z and Ibrahim Maalouf.
On Solotronic, Smadj played and toured performing solo acoustic or electric oud accompanied by electronic beats.
Discography:
Equilibriste (M.E.L.T. 2000, 1999)
New Deal (Electric M.E.L.T., 2000)
Kırklareli İl Sınırı (Doublemoon, 2003)
Take It and Drive (Most Records, 2004)
Smadj Presents SOS (Doublemoon, 2005)
Trakya Dance Party (Doublemoon, 2006)
Selin (MVS Records, 2009)
Hü (MVS Records, 2010)
Fuck The DJ (Smadj Records, 2012)
Spleen (Jazz Village, 2015)
Solotronic (Whirling Wolf, 2017)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.