Speed Caravan was founded in 2005 by Algerian French ud player Mehdi Haddab and bass player Pascal “Pasco” Teillet.
On the compelling fusion album “Kalashnik Love,” Mehdi Haddab guided his new trio through a rock reworking of the classics. Armed with an electric version of the Arab lute, Mehdi played his own original compositions and covers of hits including The Cure’s “Killing an Arab,” transcending all notions of time, space and musical genre
Those who are familiar with Mehdi Haddab’s eclectic track record will not bat an eyelid at the mention of Speed Caravan – although fans of the ud (the pear-shaped, stringed instrument used in Middle Eastern music and considered by many to be the predecessor of the western lute) may be a little more bemused.
Mehdi Haddab, a musician renowned on the French music scene for his pioneering work with several fusion projects, ventured out in a new direction, forming a “contemporary musical caravan” with bassist Pascal Teillet and electronic music artist Hermione Frank. The three created a magic triangle of sound, infused with rock energy and electro trance, and Mehdi’s virtuoso acrobatics on the electric ud take the instrument way beyond its classical image.
The Lineup on Kalashnik Love included Hermione Frank on computer; Mehdi Haddab on electric ud; Mohamed Bouamar on percussion/vocals; Pascal Teillet on bass; and Rocky Singh on vocals.
The second album, Big Blue Desert, was released in 2016. It is a tribute to Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin).
Speed Caravan’s third album, Nuba Nova, came out in 2021 featuring Hamdi Benani on vocals.
Discography:
Kalashnik Love (Newbled Records, 2008)
Big Blue Desert (World Village, 2016)
Nuba Nova (Buda Musique, 2021)
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow. Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931. Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.