Music - "Etoile Filante" CD

The title track of this album topped the charts in Djamel's home country for months, making him as famous in music-crazy Algeria as Robbie Williams, though the two don't share much in the way of common musical ground.

Laroussi is heavily inspired by the Moroccan gnawa tradition but also masters all the major musical styles of the African continent and broadens his soundscape further by the inclusion of contemporary movements from funk to rap. His virtuoso use of string, keyboard, and percussion mirrors the broad range of genres and cultures that find their way into his music, surprising by turns.

Jazzthetik's reviewer said "This approach to popular music could be a new style, independent of both world music stereotypes and market-governed pop trends".