Forabandit

The FORABANDIT Project was born in Marseille in 2009 with the goal of celebrating libertarian poetry from Occitania and Anatolia. The group resulted from the fortuitous encounter between three musicians who manifest this libertarian force daily.
Sam Karpienia, singer and mandolin player, uses a contemporary approach to perpetuate the lyric tradition of courtly poetry employed by the troubadours of Occitania in the South of France. Ulas Özdemir, on the other hand, carries on the tradition of asik songs from Anatolia, a figure of the itinerant troubadour. Both take their inspiration from traditional songs only to reinvent them in their own fashion. The Persian rhythms of Bijan Chemirani’s percussion mingle subtlety with the songs of these new poets.
The troubadour and the Asik share a common itinerant lifestyle that leads them to travel incessantly throughout their countries. Their poetry gradually loses its religious content to become a descriptive, critical and engaged chronicle on the daily life of their peoples.
With the Forabandit project, the three musicians explore the relationship between music from different backgrounds and from foreign cultures to see how they can nourish each other in order to create something new, an innovation, an original creation, the fusion of the past and present. The value of this approach lies precisely in the apprehension of culture and tradition considered not as a foundation but as a vanishing point in perpetual motion.

The term “forabandi”, which in the Occitan language means “be put aside”, incorporates all manner of deviant or heretical thoughts, be they religious or secular. The word “bandit,” included therein, also reveals the group’s musical direction: Forabandit seeks to express its viewpoint on both poetry and music with a brigand’s attitude. The group employs in an unprecedented way melodies and traditional poems about love, commitment, struggle or confinement, but also composes works based on contemporary poets.
The subtle songs of these new, modern day troubadours are revived by the soft and intimate voice of Ulas Özdemir and find a powerful echo in the hoarse, expressive and profound voice of Sam Karpienia. To the rhythmic pulsations of Bijan Chemirani’s zarb, they reveal all the vibrant poetry of Occitania and Anatolia in a resolutely Mediterranean setting.
“Forabandit,” the group’s eponymous debut album, was recorded using analog technology. It features the baglama, the sacred instrument of the asiks of Anatolia; the mandocello of the mandolin family; the zarb (tonbak), the principal percussion instrument of traditional Persian music, and two vocals.
With the desire of expressing moments of love, refusing moments of resignation, FORABANDIT grooves in order to find age-old moments of freedom, works of what could have been and may still be…

Sam Karpienia, singer, songwriter and mandolin player lives in Marseille. From his time spent with Kanjar’oc, Dupain and Gacha Empega, Sam Karpienia transformed music in Marseille with his unique voice and his poetic intensity. His singing style finds its echo in intoxicating rebetiko, in fiery flamenco, and of course in the joyous insolence of this new Provencal song, which he is a pillar. But the established Occitan hasn’t forgotten the Occident, as the energy of his music is similar to that of rock. Consequently, the music of Sam Karpienia is traditionally inspired but firmly focused on contemporary creation. Over the last ten years, Sam Karpienia has taken his inspiration from traditional Occitan songs only to reinvent them in various musical projects and albums.

Ulas Özdemir is a musician, ethnomusicologist, and the music director and producer for the Turkish label Kalan Muzik. A saz player, his heritage stems from the sacred music of the troubadours and the mystical poets of Anatolia, the Asiks. Born in 1976 in Maras in southeastern Turkey, Ulas Özdemir was bathed as a child in the sacred music of the Alevi, where the Asik appeared. He has performed with renowned musicians such as Kayhan Kalhor, Ali Morad Ekber, Dertli Divan and the group Niyaz. He is part of the Hemdem Ensemble, which perpetuates the sacred songs and poems of the Alevis. More than any other musician-singer of his generation, Ulas Özdemir combines a deep musical knowledge with rare virtuosity in performance.

Bijan Chemirani learned the zarb early on, and then began studying the daf. He also plays the udu, the bendir, the riqq and the saz... instruments with which he invents unexpected adventures. He emerged as a formidable catalyst of energy by associating the delicacy of Persian rhythms with music across the Far East via Africa, Greece and Provence. He learned the Iranian repertoire with Cyrus Rangsbar; he played in the family trio of Iranian percussionists created by his father, Djamchid Chemirani, and opened up to flamenco, jazz and oriental music through his encounters with Juan Carmona, Renault Garcia Fons, Jean Marc Pad