Womad

Speed Caravan

Adventures in electric oud land...

If you've never regarded the oud - the fretless lute at the core of so much traditional Arabic music - as a rock'n'roll instrument, then you've clearly never heard Speed Caravan or the frenetic and joyous playing of Mehdi Haddab. Once part of Parisian-based global electronica trio Ekova and then half of the experimental oud duo DuOud with Jean-Pierre Smadja, to call Haddab the Jimi Hendrix of the electric oud would, of course, be a hopeless cliché. But it's not that far from the truth. Now working as Speed Caravan with bassist Pascal Teillet and former Ekova electronic beat mistress Hermione Frank, the Algerian-French trio create music that references The Cure and The Chemical Brothers alongside Algerian rai and other Arabic influences in a glorious collision of global sounds and styles. Their debut album Kalashnik Love features guest appearances by Rachid Taha and members of Asian Dub Foundation.

Biog by Nigel Williamson