A Moroccan musician from Kenifra met a German musician from Nuernberg.

Both had learned to play music using different instruments, had worked in and explored different countries, and came from very different cultures. Their approaches to music were equally divergent and based on disparate music principles.

They began talking to each other and soon became friends. They naturally gravitated towards playing music together. Their collaboration led to the development of a completely new style of music that combines Oriental-Moroccan and German-European music elements in a harmonic playing field of suspense.

Music so "spicy" required an equally evocative

name so Abdel Illah Hajim and Peter Horcher named them-selves "Orak Naa Naa" which means pepper-

mint leaves in Arabic.

Abdel Illah Hajim is a master of the ancient

Arabic oud, a fretless lute. Peter Horcher adds to this solo instrument with the piano. While Hajim accompanies his own chants on the oud, Peter molds this traditional style into a new one using the piano.

He adds compositions to existing music and plays European elements accompanied by Moroccan-Arabic ones. These two very different music traditions enrich each other, culminating in a harmony never heard before.

The texts are written and sung by Hajim himself in Moroccan and Berber as well as Arabic dialect. Many of his compositions have been published in Paris and Morocco.

In addition to their work together, Hajim and Horcher have worked with the internationally renowned World Music Project "Argile" (see: other bibiafrica-issues), toured with well-known artists such as El Houssaine Kili and Sona Diabate, and participated in many intercultural music concerts and festivals.

...The final night of the Miri International Jazz Festival 2007 saw German/Morrocan group Orak Naa Naa kicking off the night with their unique Jazz performance which featured the combination of traditional Morrocan instrument - the Oud with piano.

...The group's performance is highly anticipated, with their fusion of traditional Arabic instruments like the oud with Peter's Western jazz styling on the piano.

...Orak Naa Naa is the birth of modern jazz music style where Oriental music from Morocco is combined with musicians from Germany. For those who appreciate jazz music, there is no better assembly of jazz bands than the Miri International Jazz Festival this year in Malaysia.

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