Mode Plagal, feat. Majid Bekkas

Day Two of the Panorama brings with it another first: the Greek group Mode Plagal playing with Majid Bekkas, the Moroccan musician with the Europe-wide reputation. The encounter promises to be another impressive fusion of jazz, the Greek musical tradition at which Mode Plagal are so adept, and the North African Gnawa tradition which Bekkas carries in his musical DNA.

Bekkas is a virtuoso on the guitar as well as the oud and the guembi, and is also an outstanding singer. In recent years, he has made a name for himself on the European jazz scene and beyond through collaborations with celebrated improvisers including Archie Shepp, Louis Sclavis, Flavio Bolto, Klaus Doldinger and Joachim Kuhn. He has played at a number of international festivals (Womex Sevilla, Gaume Jazz Festival, Hugart Festival, Grenoble Jazz Festival), impressing audiences with his technique and the skill with which he balances Modernism and tradition, which his rare talent makes relevant to the present.

For their part, Mode Plagal stand out from the crowd, having successfully combined jazz and funk with the Byzantine and modern Greek traditions to produce a sound that’s all their own.

Mode Plagal has gone from strength to strength since their first appearance in 1990, and carved a unique place for themselves on the contemporary Greek music scene. Their first recording made a great impression on the reviewer from Modern Drummer, the American music magazine—no mean feat, that!—who wrote: "Blending jazz and funk with Greek folk music and the seamlessly `odd` meters that have confounded lesser civilizations, Mode Plagal make a case for fusion that might have saved the genre twenty years ago”.