Chalaban: Moroccan Spiritual Trance Roots

Moroccan musician, Saïd Tichiti, founded Chalaban Band in 1999 in Budapest. The diversity of the group’s sound is defined by the musician’s Afro-Arab roots, with their lively, exuberant Moroccan music enhanced by elements of Carpathian Basin, Roma and Balkan music, all while singing in Arabic.

Being a melting pot of different nationalities, Chalaban aims to act as a vessel of the ancestral musical education Saïd had been acquiring since his childhood. This music goes beyond folk vision to create a merger between instruments and melodies of south and north, east and west. The result is that each Chalaban concert is full of desert spirituality, melancholic melodies, ending with an air of Trance.

Chalaban has played their captivating musical mixture to great acclaim not just in Hungary but throughout Europe, Morocco and elsewhere. Their music is featured in the 2018 documentary film “Échos du Sahara”, which examines the 20-year career of the band’s leader. The film sees Saïd return from Budapest to the Sahara Desert, where he draws inspiration from the spiritual Hassani culture and presents a fruitful encounter of diverse musical traditions.

Chalaban’s Line-up:

Saïd Tichiti: Lute, Guembri, percussion and lead, vocal

El Hassane Lahjari: Percussion, vocal

Izsák Vidákovich: Saxophone and flute

Dávid Torják: Bass guitar

Bálint Kovács: Guitar

Ferenc Golovics: Drums

Chalaban released 6 albums until now:

2000: Moroccan Nomad / Orphea Bt

2002 : Al Baraka / Fono Records

2004: Moroccan Spring /NarRator Records

2006: Nejdeb / NarRator Records

2009: Hashish Freee / NarRator Records

2017: Gleimim: / NarRator Records (presented in October 2017 in a sold out concert in the Palace of Art (MÜPA) in Budapest.