Another day, another joy in Casablanca. The Arkai concert tonight at American Arts Center was really such a big sensation. These guys coming all the way from USA are really crazy, so young and with so much passion, energy and dedication for their truly as they said genre-defying music, their performance was such an awe-inspiring experience for the whole audience. And there’s more. Another thing they stand out with is the fact that they blend tradition with innovation, old with new, very beautifully. The only instruments of this duo being violin and cello, they actually kept alternating between acoustic and electric ones.

On one hand for the acoustic ones, they also blend old and new quite well in the same performances since like they explained their violin is from 1709, having been played by so many musicians and heard in many countries by innumerable audiences for more than 300 years, and their cello has a completely new 3D-printed carbon fiber body, using very recent technology, and even with these differences both instruments produce amazing music together which is a big ode to intergenerational multiculturalism. On the other hand the electric versions of these ones are never seen or heard before by so many, and they use them to create out of the ordinary mind-blowing melodies. And they perfect both versions of the instruments amazingly well, without any discrimination against either tradition or innovation, which is also something I live by and deeply appreciate.

It’s really fabulous to see youth erupting like volcanoes with this much creativity, talent, energy and thoughtfulness for their craft, both in Morocco and worldwide, inspiring why not, everyone to keep becoming better versions of themselves.

Yahia Chlyeh, for M/ⵎ/م Culture (HelloM212.com), 2024–11–24.