After spending a month in Florida at OneBeat Music Residency, music producer and multi-instrumentalist live performer/DJ Yassine Reqati (aka Reqteq) releases his 9-track debut album – and 13 collaborations with musicians around the world – on all music platforms from December 15, 2022.
Yassine Reqati, alias Reqteq, is an artist with an eccentric style who is inspired by African and Moroccan tribal rhythms, the groove of house music, the fiery spirit of hip-hop and experimental electronic music from the Maghreb.
He officially started his career in 2019, from then he performed in several national and international events, such as Jawhara, Jazzablanca 2019, OneBeat Florida and recently in Egypt in 2022.
He has recently collaborated with several local and international visual and digital artists on projects involving public space with facade mapping, audio-reactive and interactive installations.
Thirty years old and a little, Reqteq is passionate about community engagement and leads many music production workshops for children and teenagers across Morocco. He was also behind the musical creation of several television commercials, such as Orange, Schweppes and Seat 2022.
First attempt, master stroke
In May 2022, Yassine was invited by the United States Department of Foreign Affairs to participate in the Onebeat USA artistic residency in Orlando, which brings together musicians from all over the world each year.
Reqteq then spent a month of learning, creating, producing and rehearsing in a very diverse cultural ecosystem that allowed him to enrich his knowledge and lead many collaborations with OneBeat residents.
The result was a 9 track album featuring 13 international artists from India, Turkey, USA, Brazil, South Africa, Philippines and more. In fact, the album represents a marriage of different styles and traditional instruments from Africa, Europe and Asia, from the flute to the qraqeb and gembri…
“Barzak” is an Arabic name that represents the moment when the night ends and the light of day appears. A barrier between cold and hot, sour and sweet… a musical Yin & Yang. Reqteq chose this title because it represents the two opposing moods of the album: the A side is ambiguous, serious with deep meanings, while the B side is more fun, groovy and full of “out of the box” tracks with a more relaxed!
Living in a world where an artist is forced to have an identity and an integrated and more or less similar sound, Reqteq, a multifaceted producer, wanted to break the codes by experimenting with different styles and sounds.
The album is released on December 15 at a ceremony where cultural actors and artists are invited for a listening session followed by a press conference at the American Arts Center in Casablanca.