Sam Karpienia

From Kanjar’oc to Gacha Empega and Dupain, Sam Karpenia has transformed the Marseille music scene, revitalising it with a poetic intensity and offering it a unique voice. His unforgettable sound, a gem polished by the elemental forces that pervade the Mediterranean, reflects the intoxicating exhilaration of the Rebetiko as much as the feverishness of flamenco and, of course, the joyous insolence of the new Provençale music of which he is a mainstay. However, this proclaimed Occitan has not forgotten the West, and the energy of his music approaches that of Rock, but a Rock that has escaped from binary rhythms, in which guitar riffs are replaced by those on the instruments of Algerian Chaabi music.
This surprising springboard of sounds, rhythms and harmonies supports and propels the voice of the singer and helps him break the barrier of modesty that has separated him from his mother tongue. He holds back on the usage of the Occitan language in favour of French, extracting from it clear words, so many symbols which he endows with melodic curves whose raw and unaffected beauty celebrate life through the themes of voyage, the benevolent loved-one, exchanged words or the redeeming sun. Sam Karpenia describes eternal initiatory experiences in which we recognise the magical moments of our own lives.
Benjamin Minimum (Mondomix)