Raiz and his new album Ya!

RaiZ has been a migrant soul for a very very long time. He is one of the few italian musicians who loves cultural hybridity, mixing classic neapolitan traditional sounds with mediterranean and middle eastern influences, RaiZ loves to connect Naples, Casablanca, Paris and Jerusalem all together, evolving the roots of his upbringing into the new spirit of the modern european musical scenery. His new album Ya! – a short form of Yalla! which in jewish has the same meaning as in neapolitan, Let’s Go – is a collaboration with the group Planet Funk, a journey between east and west, where all songs are sung in italian, english, neapolitan and hebrew, a compass that points to a glocal musical scene.

“I was born in Napoli, Mediterranean Sea” says on his site “I’ve been singing since I was a child. I’m totally into mediterranean melody & reggae/dub. From 1992 to 2002, I’ve been the lead vocalist for Almamegretta, italian ethnodub/electronica collective – where we recorded 7 albums, Anima Migrante, Sanacore, Indubb, Lingo, 4/4, Imaginaria and Venite!. In 2002 I started my solo career. Since then, I’ve cut WOP and Uno. I have also recorded two albums with Eraldo Bernocchi/Bill Laswell project Ashes: Corpus and Unisono. I’ve collaborated with Venice based combo Laboratorio Novamusica, in the recording of the album Alphabet Music, a mix of contemporary and sacred music. I like reading, writing, studying languages, acting and, of course, singing. I’ve been collaborating with many artists, such as Massive Attack, Leftfield, Pino Daniele, Adrian Sherwood, Gaudi, Eraldo Bernocchi, Bill Laswell, Stewart Copeland, Teresa De Sio, Luigi Cinque, Zion Train…”. The song Ya! is part of the soundtrack of Tatanka Skatenato – just released in Italy – a movie directed by Giuseppe Gagliardo adapted from a short story by Roberto Saviano’s novel La Bellezza e l’Inferno, where Raiz has a part.

After 20 years, RaiZ and Almamegretta will reunite together for a tour, starting June 4th in Bagnoli, where the group was born, which will travel all over Europe, including Bruxelles, Siena, Cartagena in Spagna, Roma per il Rock in Roma, e Montenegro durante il Sonica Dance Festival. Ya! drops worldwide tomorrow, May 10th by Universal Music Italia. Stay tuned.

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