Electrosabarization. Modernizing a traditional recipe is a big challenge, anchoring tradition in today's world, too.

Guiss Guiss Bou Bess, it is the encounter of two artists and two worlds: Mara Seck & Stéphane Costantini Through their musical exchange, Stéphane and Mara want to establish new bridges between electronic music and African music, especially Sabar (Senegalese traditional percussions) and Mbalax (popular music in Senegal).

Meaning « new vision », « Guiss Guiss Bou Bess » wishes to export Senegal, its rythms, its culture and its identity, while preserving the cultural and identity heritage from Senegal. They wish to break down the barriers that Mbalax is facing on the International scene and make it accessable both rhythmically and as an identity to a broader public.

The project has been officially released last April in Dakar with a show at the « Galerie Atiss » in April 2017 and had a residence offered by the French Institute in November 2017 follwowing by a concert at the Théâtre de La Verdure (Stage of the Dakar French Institute).

The Senegalese Mara Seck, bearer of the Sabar heritage, his companion percussionist Babacar Diop and the French beat-maker sociologist Stephane Costantini wanted to give one of the most mystical styles of Téranga a new life.

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The bubbling working-class neighbourhoods of the Senegalese capital are their laboratory, the place where ambiences are captured, where drums are recorded and beats are made. The electro Sabar, is not simply a mix between ritual percussions and electro; it is based on the full respect for each song, each code, each drum sound while adding a rhythm from the world: trap, dubstep, UK garage, drum & bass, bass house, afrobass or even kuduro.

A perfect fusion of deep bass beats and the ancestral music of the Wolof griots. With a strong representation of contemporary Africa, the group promises intense turbulence in their new creation to come in 2023!

The "Tik Tik": a universal identity that crosses time and borders

From their first live shows, the group was noticed with their "Tik Tiks" on stage, commonly called jellyfish shoes, these shoes that have crossed the ages between Europe and Africa, becoming the symbol of African children playing in the streets, reminding others of childhood in the rocks of summer holidays... All these identities are, for the group, a universal identity that they wish to celebrate.

Because today the world is also made of Tik Tok, the parallel does not fail to be raised regarding the relationship to musical creation, buzz and selfies. Africa is not left out. A message to the youth, a wink to the past and to the retro music that influenced the group, a representation of contemporary Africa that breaks the clichés, to the Uk bass & Afroelectro culture, Guiss Guiss Bou Bess asserts its multiple and proper identity through this new Electro-Sabar creation..

LINEUP:

Group Size: 3 Artists + 1 sound engineer Optional: Benjamin Richard-Foy : VJ
• Mara : vocals lead, sabar
• Aba : sabar, choir
• Steph : electronics
OPTIONAL
• Benjamin Richard-Foy : VJ
• Dancer