Dendri Stambeli Movement

Dendri Stambeli Movement is a musical project born from the meeting, in 2008 of a Tunisian drummer, Mohamed Khachneoui and an ancestral Afro-Tunisian ritual music the Stambeli.

Conquered by the singular sounds of instruments he was seeing for the first time and the particular rhythmic imprint of the Stambeli, Khachneoui decided to dedicate a large part of his career to this sacred music.

He succeeded in penetrating this restricted circle and great masters (Maalmeya) of Stambeli took him under their wing.

A period of apprenticeship of more than six years then began, Dendri Stambeli Movement is the result of this process, it is a space of research and exploration where modern musicians and bearers of the Stambeli tradition come together to create the unique sound of this group.

Without corrupting the soul of this musical tradition, Dendri has been able to create a modern repertoire, with Rock and Jazz affinities and Afrofuturistic sounds, a tightrope walker music that moves on a rope perched between past and future without ever falling into folklorization or disfigurement of this priceless heritage.

The sound of the electric guitar and piano is infused with the Stambeli traditional instruments: Gombri, Gambra, Gougay and Chkachak.

Beyond its undeniable musical value, the project aims to bring back to the stage this ancestral Tunisian and North African tradition in the process of extinction and all the knowledge that surrounds it, while bringing a positive and avant-garde rereading of black African history.

More than a music project, Dendri is a cultural movement that fights against a normative and stereo-typical vision of black music and its associated history.

The group made its debut in 2015 during a jam session organised by the Jazz Club of Tunis during the Jazz in Carthage festival.

Dendri Stambeli Movement currently consists of seven musicians: Mohamed Khachneoui, project leader, on drums; Maalem Bellassan Mihoub and Maalem Muhamed Jouini on Gombri - Gambra vocals and Chakachak ( Krakebs ), Aymen Ben Attia on guitar, Sahbi Ben Mustapha on bass guitar, Hassen Mchaikhi on Gougay and Chkachak, Wajdi Riahi on keyboard.

The group, supported by AFAC (Arab Fund for Arts and Culture), recorded its first album BORI during the year 2020.

A vibrant album in deep resonance with Africa, it contains 9 precious songs (nouba) drawn from the roots of Stambeli music.