Media Reactions

thehalaljointproduction

www.myspace.com/ucef

www.broadjam.com/u-cef

home	biography	discography	media reactions	recent events	upcoming events	bookings - contact	buy

U-CEF media reactions

	UK "The dancefloor is the natural habitat for U-Cef’s tender expressions and intricate roots" Time Out “In the same way that Outcaste did with Indian music, U-cef has managed to show that dance music can be morphed into the most unlikely of places” Muzik “Talvin Singh and Nitin Sawhney have done fine things for British Asian Music, but can Morocco instrumentalist U-cef work the same trick for Arabic music? It seems he can” Ministry “There are a lot of good North African / Arabic influenced releases out at the moment, but this one stands out because of its maker’s obvious understanding of both tradition and technology” Straight No Chaser “…one of the most interesting and diverse fusions of traditional and dance beats yet” Folk Roots
	“…this is a shining debut to be appreciated on and off the dancefloor…..U-cef could teach Khaled a thing or two about hard-edged dance beats.” New Internationalist “Highly Recommended.” M8 “He employs his sampler with a good deal more imagination than most of his British or American contemporaries” Top “U-cef hasn’t just combined these elements to jump on the ‘world music’ bandwagon, he’s done it to bring the honoured tradition of Arabic music into the 21st century. Needless to say, he does it with finesse.” (8/10) DJ magazine “A lesson in subtlety for all worldbeat remixers – listen with an open mind!” BFM
	FRANCE “We’ve heard that whole Arabic jungle fusion thing fifty times and it hasn’t worked. Well, this time, it works!” Trax “The (official) halal style of MC U-cef is so good that it’s nearly a haram (sin)” Novamag “U-cef opens the door for us to a fantastic medina where the amateur tourist has no place” – L’Affiche “He represents what the term world music really means today more than anyone else” L’Humanité “U-cef has a very real message to communicate and as the old saying goes “It’s really very interesting!” Syndikat “U-cef has managed to create a genuinely communal work which doesn’t give a damn for musical barriers and pre-conceived ideas. Congratulations!” Vibrations “This vagabond percussionist is creating a natural union of electronic music, hip hop and gnawa trance.” Le Monde
	GERMANY “If U-cef wanted to make music which can’t fit into any existing category then he was very successful…… That the music is innovative there is no doubt!” (5/5) Etap “The Moroccan born U-cef is the shooting star of currently flourishing World-Electro-Scene.” Tipps & Termine (Cologne) “The label ‘world music’ fits him precisely as badly as the label ‘trance’. U-cef…doesn’t want to just give western pop hedonism the next exotic kick, but lead the music of his homeland from the analogue into the digital age.” Berliner Morgenpost
	ITALY “U-cef is a drummer and a perfect creator of distant voices and magnetic sounds” Il Manifesto “…one of the most brilliant examples of the mix between the sounds of the dancefloor and those of other ethnic traditions” (7/10) Blow Up “U-cef melts technological dance rhythms and big beats with the strength of the trance elements in the halal rhythms from Morocco” – World Music “A casket full of innovative music with a proud identity” – Rockerilla
	HOLLAND “Away with the dusty culturally correct world music for the elite. Here comes the worldmusic of the new millennium” OOR SPAIN “His borrowings from hip hop and drum and bass don’t destroy identity of the Maghreb cultural roots and create an organic and hypnotic sound.” El Periodico “Not suitable for orthodox world music types and sentinels of ethnic purity; balsam for those in search of crossroads.” El Pais USA “…one of the most ambitious and best-executed fusions of ethnic traditionalism and urban futurism I’ve ever heard.” Chicago Reader