Nakara Percussions - Nakara Percussions (Komos Jazz) “Hypnotic percussion tracks and organic soundscapes drawing on African, Asian, Indian & South American traditions, recorded deep in the French countryside in 1984.”
Founded by long-time friends Gerard Kurdjian and Stéphane Olivier alongside compatriot Christian Berthier in 1983, Nakara Percussions was a trio from the south of France, fascinated with percussion instruments, rhythms and textures from across the world.
Steeped in Jazz and ethnographic recordings, the trio designed and built their own instruments and played across the South of France throughout the 80s, recording a single album in the tiny village of Alliens in 1984.
Self-produced and mainly sold at gigs, the record reflects the inquisitive, experimental approach of the group and has become a cult album among DJs and music lovers for its blend of complex rhythms and organic soundscapes, taking in everything from Brazilian batucada to Indian tabla rhythms by way of West African thumb pianos and the drums of the Maghreb.
“Nakara Percussions came into being in 1983. Stéphane both lived in Grasse were both percussionists. We asked Christian Berthier to join us – he was an excellent drummer who also lived in the area. He brought a lot of skill to the group, and there were more musical possibilities as a trio than a duo.
Later on - after we had recorded the album - we were joined by Jean Luc Cedaha, a superb percussionist who had been a member of the famous Zaka Percussions group (led by Guem) in Paris in the 70s.
The name of the group comes from the Naqara, known in Medieval Europe as the Nacaire. It was a musical instrument used by the Saracen armies – big drums that were mounted in pairs on the backs of horses or camels and used to set the pace for the soldiers.
We liked the idea of these big drums being used to lead the charge so we named the group after the instrument.
The idea behind the group was to summon the sounds and textures of different music from around the world: Africa, Asia, Brazil, the Caribbean, Cuba, India, the Middle East and so on.
At the time there was nothing else like it in the area but we knew some local jazz musicians in Grasse and Nice – we didn’t share the bill with them as a group but often played percussion at their concerts. The rock and jazz scenes didn’t really have an impact on what we were doing, even though we were (and are) big fans of Jazz.”
Gerard Kurdjian, September 2018
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