Moroccan Majid Bekk is widely appreciated for his contribution to world music and ethnojazz, for the unique synthesis of traditional North African music and jazz improvisations in his work.
In his youth, the artist played the banjo in Moroccan bands, later studied classical guitar at the Rabat Conservatory of Music and Dance, became interested in the sacred music of African "gnawa" and mastered its traditional instrument, the three-stringed bass "guembri".In the 1990s, Majid founded the Gnaoua Blues Band, whose music combined African-American blues and religious gnawa. In 1996, M. Bekkas became one of the managers of the festival in Rabat "Jazz au Chellah".
He held his first concert in Europe in 1997 with avant-garde luminaries Peter Brötzmann and H. Drake in Mulhouse (France). Since then, the Moroccan has often appeared on the stages of the Old Continent with jazz and world music artists. As a soloist and with groups of various compositions, Mr. Bekks appeared at WOMEX, Berlin jazz and other important festivals, last year he toured with his band in the USA.
Among the Moroccan's stage partners, such prominent figures as Louis Sclavis, Archie Shepp, Randy Weston, Klaus Doldinger, Joachim Kühn, Pharoah Sanders can be mentioned. With German pianist J. Kühn and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez, he recorded five albums and toured many festivals. This trio existed for more than 16 years.
M. Bekkas also gained recognition for his albums: "Mogador" was awarded the European Jazz "Django d'Or" award (2004), "Passport to Morocco", recorded with K. Doldinger's group "Passport", - the German Jazz Award (2009) , Al Qantara - French Académie Charles-Cros Prize (2015), Magic Spirit Quartet, recorded with young Scandinavian musicians, received BBCMusical Magazine' and Downbeat's highest rankings (2020).In 2010, the artist received the Al Farabi Prize of the Moroccan National Music Committee for his contribution to Moroccan music, and in 2018, he was awarded the Visa for Music for his international activities.
