THE DUNES, the Bay Area’s (and perhaps the United States’) first homegrown North African band does
double-groove-duty, melding North African polyrhythmic dance grooves with North American “it's-all-about-
the-ONE” old-school funk & rock. It all comes together on stage and on the dance floor in a surprisingly
organic mix for an eminently danceable night of musical entertainment.
While a number of other Bay Area musicians specialize in Moroccan or Algerian traditional music, no other
local performers draw on such a variety of North African styles (Pop Rai, Rock Rai, Algerian chaâbi,
Marrakshi Gnawa, Kabyle Berber, Tunisian and Egyptian pop) or mix them with such varied North American
grooves (rock, funk, metal, reggae, jazz). The type of musical mix made by THE DUNES is similar in spirit
to the recent wave of North African “fusion” bands working in France and North Africa - groups such as
Gnawa Diffusion, Gaâda Diwane de Béchar, and Orchestre National de Barbès.
THE DUNES confound stereotypical images of North African music and musicians. They do not wear
jellabas or burnouses; they do not play for undulating belly dancers. Alongside the traditional mandol,
guinbri and hand drums (darbuka and bendir ) are electric guitars, keyboards and a full drum set. THE
DUNES are not trying to recreate or represent a faraway culture. Their music comes out of their own
experiences here and in North Africa—and the paths they have traveled in time, space and mind between
the there-and-then and the here-and-now.
The band’s repertoire will delight fans of North African music and captivate the uninitiated with the pleasure
of discovering a new groove. While many of their songs are familiar standards, THE DUNES put an
original spin on their versions of the songs. In a typical set, you may hear:
-A shredding metal version of Cheb Khaled’s “Yamina”
-Faithful acoustic versions of chaâbi classics “Ya Rayah” & L-Hmame”
-A righteous funk rave-up version of chaâbi standard “Kahwa u L-Atay”
-Rock versions of Moroccan Gnawa trance songs with thumping guinbri and wailing guitar
-Power-pop versions of Kabyle Berber standards
-A reggae-fied version of Raïna Rai’s “Hagda”
THE DUNES’ repertoire reflects the diverse paths the individual musicians have taken to this project:
-Reda Bouali [guitar, bass, singing], guitar shredder from Algiers, formed one of the first Algerian heavy
metal bands in the early 1990’s
-Nasser Addi [drums], funky drummer from Algiers, gigged for years in Algeria, France and the US, playing
rock, jazz, and Latin styles
-Malek Basta [mandol, guitar, singing], from Algiers, as comfortable playing an old chaâbi tune on the
mandol as he is playing a Beatles song on the acoustic guitar
-Anis Sehiri [keyboards, singing], from Tunis, a veteran of Tunisian wedding bands, plays flamenco guitar
and Middle Eastern bass and North African keyboard.
-John Waller [derbuka, percussion] from San Francisco, navigates dozens of grooves from Afro-Cuban to
West African to Middle Eastern and North African, as well as rock, reggae, jazz and blues
-Tim Abdellah Fuson [bass, Gnawa guinbri, clarinet, bendir, singing], from Berkeley, went from playing
power-pop on an upright bass on Sproul Plaza, Berkeley, to playing Gnawa music on a guinbri in the
Jemaa L-Fna Plaza of Marrakesh, with a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology as an alibi.
While the nucleus of the band dates back to 2002, the current DUNES line-up took form in the spring of
2004. Since then, the band has been performing regularly at San Francisco’s El Rio and at Berkeley’s
Lucre Lounge, and been featured at Ashkenaz Music & Dance Center in Berkeley. The band has also
performed at community events sponsored by the Algerian-American Association of Northern California,
Middle East Children’s Alliance, and UC Berkeley’s Center for Middle East Studies.
THE DUNES are currently adding new and original material to their repertoire, tightening up their live set,
and collaborating with Tunisian vocalist MC Rai. Come out to dance with THE DUNES at an upcoming
performance, and fall in step with the Bay Area’s North African Groove.
