Lyricist, composer, percussionist, oud and banjo player, Hassan el Hadi is a man of many talents. A native of Marrakesh, where the great diversity of Moroccan music comes together, he grew up under the influence of the melodic beats of Jemaa el Fna Square, home to many local ceremonies and festivities. 

He is also among the few artists from elsewhere “who blow hardest on Quebec tradition, allowing himself to improvise on old popular tunes and to get the iconic ‘la Bolduc’ swinging in French and in Arabic. To all this he adds jazz harmonies, Berber rhythms and the subtlety of Arab and Andalusian musical styles. In his genre, he is a unique case.” (Yves Bernard, Le Devoir)

In this 21st edition of the FMA, this eclectic virtuoso pushes exploration further, blending the rhythmic foot tapping of Irish, Celtic and Quebecer musical styles with that of Moroccan kaada, a little known tradition that also involves rhythmic footwork. 

He will be accompanied by well-known figures of the traditional music scene: Pascal “Per” Veillette, from the group Tireux d’Roches, and Nicolas Pellerin. Together they blend and dialogue between the Arab-Andalusian and Québécois cultures, two unique and pluralistic worlds, to produce an original and festive musical style that finds its source in the infinite and diverse influence of the Maghreb, North Africa, Québec, Acadia and the Celtic countries.

In El Hadi’s world, traditional Moroccan music rhymes with Québécois music. No need to be bilingual to discover and savour this renewed language of sound!