Mademoiselle’s “raï’n’blues” weaves together origins, rhythms and sounds

At the Vieilles Charrues festival in Carhaix, the trio carried away the audience with their “raï’n’blues”. At the controls: Rodolphe Burger, Sofiane Saïdi and Mehdi Haddab.

Mademoiselle is an improvised project as Rachid Taha liked them, to whom the trio’s first album, released last year, is dedicated. Improvised but exciting, right away, wandering between the talents of its members: the rock and blues of Rodolphe Burger, the majestic voice of Sofiane Saïdi and the rough oud of Mehdi Haddab. The last two are Algerian, in France for a long time, and they loved this project from the beginning: “When we first played together, we weren’t even sure we could convince 20 people. ! But we were convinced. And from the first concert, it took off. Even for us, it was beyond our control. The ingredients of what we offer are quite effective things. : raï, rhythmically irresistible, blues, rock, violence…”

But be careful: Mademoiselle is not a collection of recipes, it is a creation. The trio wrote songs, covered others, notably by Jimi Hendrix. Rodolphe Burger, a tireless traveler between projects, is very keen on it. “We didn’t say at all that we were going to do a merger, he emphasizes. All three of us are used to trying things quite far from our home territory. These are never artificial projects.”

“It has to be motivated by deep things, by a real musical affinity, it has to be interwoven, it has to not just be a collage or a synthesis.”

Rodolphe Burger

to franceinfo

On Friday July 12 at Vieilles Charrues, Mademoiselle, the group’s name in the form of a humorous wink, also had something to say: “It’s a Franco-Algerian project in the strong sense, we’re doing the work that others aren’t doing…” Last spring, they triumphed in Algeria, a sign that borders are nothing in the face of sincere, irresistible and inspired music. Mademoiselle is all of these things at once.