Angam (Morocco / France)
Updated: 4 hours ago
The Paris-based quintet Angam began with the meeting of Moroccan singer-songwriter Lakhdar Boussaf and French composer and guitarist Emmanuel Blanc, whose shared interest in bridging cultures shaped the band’s direction. Boussaf, originally from Oujda, started performing young, later moving to France where he worked on projects linking Eastern and Western styles. Blanc, from Montpellier, trained in guitar, orchestration and film scoring before turning toward world music as a way to explore poetic and cross-cultural expression. Joined by Omar Koukou, Mouss and Gérald Portocallis, Angam blends oud, mandola, guitars and percussion into a sound that moves between groove-driven pieces and reflective ballads.
Featured Songs:
On their love song “Ach Tamel” (The Chosen One), featured on Putumayo's Desert Blues, the narrator speaks to his own heart and to the one he loves, navigating longing, hesitation and the pull to return. Boussaf sings in Moroccan Darija, the Arabic dialect of the region, “Love carries you / Sweetheart, come to me / Forget my false-starts and my mistakes / Where can I go? / There’s always one way and that’s back to you / I cannot go far from you / Towards you is the only way out / And you are the apple of my eye.”
“Dani Dani” is sung in Darija, the everyday spoken Arabic dialect of Morocco, shaped by centuries of Amazigh, French, and Spanish influence and distinct from the more formal Arabic used in writing and media. A plaintive ballad of longing and displacement, the Café Arabica song is built around Boussaf’s vocal lead and bendir, a North African frame drum played by hand and often fitted with a snare that gives it a buzzing resonance, alongside Blanc’s acoustic guitar, piano, and synthesizer. “Will this sorrow heal / Will it go away / I left my home / I left my mother / I cried so much / And my tears are my only companions.”
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