DUOUD

DuOud – the duo of Parisian musician/producers Mehdi Haddab and Smadj—is in a class of its own, the first group to introduce the oud to electronic music. Their approach is non-academic and purely instinctive, unashamedly inspired by their North African roots. They infuse their music with a wide range of influences: break beats, groove, jazz, techno, guitar rock… A singular fusion that earned them the Best Newcomer prize at the BBC Music Awards for their first album, Wild Serenade. They followed up with unexpected collaborations (with Abdulatif Yagoub in Yemen), a daring album (Ping Kong, between kitsch surf and futuristic groove), and a long, restorative break. In 2023, DuOud resurfaced and embarked on a world tour that produced Menshen, an album inspired by the guardians of the threshold in Chinese culture. With this new chapter, DuOud offers music that is both acoustic and electronic, North African and Western, rooted and open. A journey designed to experience the oud as an instrument of yesterday, and tomorrow.