Kheireddine Mkachiche

Born in Bab El Oued on December 3, 1972, at the age of 11 years, his father enrolled him Conservatory of Algiers where he received an apprenticeship in the tradition of Arab-Andalusian music. Shortly later, he joined the Algerian association of Andalusian music El Fakhardjia. He excelled in the style and for several years accompanied well-known artists in the Andalusian, Hawzi and Châabi styles. His curiosity prompted him to learn and practice different musical styles of the greater Maghreb region.

For several years since 1997, he has accompanied the Moroccan singer Amina Alawi in various concerts around the world. In 2002, he took part in the Franco-Algerian project «Les Orientales» (a homage to the music-hall of Algeria in the 50s), released as a CD and DVD by the production company MK2 with a tour in Algeria as part of the European festival, and a tour in France: Théâtre Mogador, Les Docks Sud de Marseille, Les Francofolies de la Rochelle.

Since 2007, Kheireddine has worked on the album “Siwan” (ECM) by the Norwegian pianist Jon Balke, presented at many festivals in Europe and Egypt. Since 2008, he is a member of the American trumpetist Jon Hassell’s jazz group, playing at numerous jazz festivals and touring Europe and North America several times. He featured on Hassell’s last album released in 2009 by ECM. In 2011, India’s Paganini – the immense violonist Dr L.Subramaniam – invited Kheireddine to work on his project VIOLINS FOR PEACE, the masterpiece of the Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival with a series of special concerts to commemorate the centenary of the birth of his father, the teacher V. Lakshminarayana (1911-1990). The project brought together artists from different violin traditions from around the world, such as the Carnatic, classical western, gypsy, Arabic and Norwegian violin.

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