Sarazino

“A multi-lingual and Transnational effort to express celebration in several musical and spoken languages. The shape of things to come: borders transgressed, cultures collapsed, good times had.” - Exclaim

“Uptempo reggae rhythms, shouty Spanish rap, glitchy samples, ukelele strumming: Sarazino might have fallen into the cauldron of Manu Chao as a baby.” - Financial Times

“The real star here is the music, which is comprised of simply good pop/rock and reggae songs with enough exoticism and class to stand out from the crowd. This is a fully developed, very appealing, and distinctive sound, led from the back by Sarazino’s own keyboards. On the basis of this, Sarazino has a very bright future.” - Allmusic.com

“A vibrant, bubbly mix of reggae, funk, hip-hop, even raï, but his music is closest to the mestizo movement coming out of Barcelona via Macaco, Manu Chao, Zulu 9.30, and Ojos De Brujo.” - Popmatters

Sarazino is the brainchild of Lamine Fellah, a musician, songwriter and producer whose nomadic life is reflected in the multicultural influences in his songs. Fellah is a true child of a globalized world and Sarazino’s music draws on a wide range of styles to create an upbeat celebration of the diverse world we all share.

Fellah was born in Constantine, Algeria, on March 3, 1970. His father was a career diplomat whose postings brought the family to live in Spain and Switzerland, as well as the African countries of Burundi and Burkina Faso. While living in Africa, the young Fellah was exposed to many different varieties of West African music styles as well as reggae, which was very popular in Africa at the time. At an early age, Fellah was introduced to Arab-Andalusian music and Spanish flamenco by his mother and grew up listening to popular French music.

In 1984, when he was 14 years old, Fellah bought his first drum set and soon became interested in writing his own music. Fellah was living in Burkina Faso at the time, and the fertile musical environment inspired him to form a band with some local friends. In 1988, Fellah moved to Canada to get his degree in political science and economics at the University of Montreal. His true passion, however, remained with music. Montreal’s active nightclub and festival scene gave him plenty of opportunities to explore new sounds.

In 1993, tragedy befell Fellah’s family when Islamic radicals in Algeria assassinated his father and forced the rest of his family into a life of exile from their homeland. This intensely personal confrontation with fundamentalism and violence had a great impact on Fellah’s music, which emphasizes the need for personal and political freedom while encouraging people to love their neighbors and celebrate our commonalities as well as our differences.

On a trip to Ecuador in 1996, Fellah fell in love with Latin America and Latin music. He decided to move to Quito, where he now has an active and successful music production business.

Sarazino’s first album for Cumbancha, Ya Foy! (which means “no problem” in the Dioula language of West Africa), was released in 2009 and presented a musical melting pot of roots reggae and Latin grooves with Arabic and West African flavors spicing up the mix.

The album received excellent reviews, with the Boston Herald calling it “Relentlessly upbeat. Totally cool” and Sarazino toured North America for the first time in the summer of 2010, opening for African superstar Angélique Kidjo at San Francisco’s prestigious Stern Grove and thrilling audiences in Montreal, New York, Los Angeles and more.

For his second Cumbancha album, Everyday Salama, Sarazino invited an exciting selection of special guests from Jamaica, Nigeria, Brazil, Peru, the US, Sierra Leone and more. Everyday Salama featured appearances by Sabina Sciubba from New York indie-rock darlings Brazilian Girls, Afro-Peruvian electronica pioneers Novalima, African superstars Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Jamaica’s leading young reggae band Rootz Underground, Spanish mestizo singer Amparo Sanchez, and Luísa Maita, the 2011 Best New Artist winner at Brazil’s equivalent of the GRAMMYs. The album was released in May 2012.

On September 28, 2018, Sarazino will release his third album on Cumbancha, Mama Funny Day, which features many guest appearances by artists from all over the globe and continues Sarazino’s mission to use music to bring the world together. Sarazino is anything if not prolific, and with a total of 15 songs, Mama Funny Day offers a satisfying collection of new material from this appealing, boundary-crossing artist.