Finding a Voice Between Tradition and the Contemporary

How do artists honor traditional heritage while making space for innovation in an ever-changing world? Join Thomas Attar (of retro-futurist Arab psychedelia group Al-Qasr) and Milagros Gonzalez Castro (of the vibrant Barcelona-based band Maruja Limón) for a conversation on the intersection of tradition and the contemporary in their practice, moderated by Bill Bragin, Executive Artistic Director of The Arts Center.

Al-Qasar

Al-Qasar was started between Los Angeles and Paris in 2016 by US-French producer Thomas Attar, featuring core members Turkish psychedelic rock singer Sibel, Iraqi-French drummer Adrien Al-Aiedy, and French bassist Guillaume Theoden. Al-Qasar’s music never wavers, pulling from the hypnotic roots of North African trance and threading it into a fabric with the elaborate beauty of Arab scales and the shock and thrill of rock’n’roll. The collective recently wrapped a world tour in support of their first full length album, Who Are We (Glitterbeat Records), which reaped global praise. In the past two years, the band performed on five continents and at major festivals such as Pukkelpop, Lowlands, Sziget, Reeperbahn, and WOMADs and collaborated with rock’n’roll legends Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys). The project’s second album, UNCOVERED (WeWantSounds), tackles songs from Western pop to the Arab folk repertoires. Cultures collide, and the result of this fission is Depeche Mode sung in Turkish, Sean Paul in Arabic, Nubian legend Hamza El Din with fuzz guitars, and iconic Lebanese composer Wadih El Safi through space echo. Produced between Tunis, Lisbon, Los Angeles, London, and Paris, UNCOVERED tells the story of a world in flux, its ancestors deep in the past but its eyes set on the zeitgeist. It’s retro-futurist Arab psychedelia with one foot in the Mojave and the other in the Sahara.

Maruja Limón

Maruja Limón is a six-member band from Barcelona, renowned for their vibrant fusion of flamenco, pop, and Latin rhythms. Their debut album, Más de ti (2018), was praised by Mondo Sonoro and Muzikalia as one of the best Spanish records of the year, earning them the Best Emerging Artist award at the ARC Awards 2018. With their second album, Ante Mí (2019), they received a nomination for Best World Music Album at the MIN Awards 2020. Maruja Limón has performed at prestigious festivals and events such as LAMC and globalFEST (USA), Trans Musicales (France), Eurosonic (Netherlands), Sziget Festival (Hungary), Maré de Agosto (Portugal), and Cruïlla (Spain). Te como la cara is the band's latest work, divided into two EPs: Te como la cara (A), released in March 2024, and Te como la cara (B), recently launched in October. It’s a journey through the geography of Catalan, flamenco, quinqui, mestizo, and Latin rumba, blending experimental, electronic, and organic sounds. The band explores rumba with dembow, electronic music, salsa, and pop. This explosive musical work is paired with lyrics that range from sensitivity to irony, tackling personal and social themes. Maruja Limón will kick off 2025 with a tour that takes them to New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Madrid, Barcelona, Italy, and Paris, among other destinations, bringing their art to new frontiers worldwide.