With her grandeur of soul and commitment to folk-music, Samira Kadiri nowadays occupies a cardinal place in the map of Mediterranean lyric music. Her dexterous native insight (enhanced by her academic and technical courses) has permitted her to have a brilliant record and also to be heralded by notorious organizations, such as UNESCO, along with the French Academy of Art, Science and Literature- to mark her maestria musicale.
Fascinated by the traditional musical repertoire of the Mediterranean Basin that narrativizes the human atmosphere inside this region during the Medieval Era and Renaissance, Samira Kadiri has embarked for more than three decades on constant research in Arabo-Andalusian, Christiano-Andalusian and ladino musical heritage. For that purpose, this soprano created Arabesque Orchestra to explore, interpret and preserve this sonic heritage or ligado. In her glamorous performances, this bona fide melodist is often accompanied by a clutch of skillful players who master in producing chiming cascades of cyclic melodies. But on other occasions, Samira Kadiri and her band feature a galaxy of foreign lyricists and choreographers as Rocío Márquez, Vanessa Paloma, Emilie Odin, Thierry Tejeras, Begoña Olavide, to name just a few.
Raised in Rabat (the capital of Morocco), Samira moved to Tetouan in1994, and where she is currently the director of a youth and cultural center. Samira makes it clear that without this Mediterranean musical heritage, she would have been an epitome of exoteric civil servant who fixes her target on administrative management and domestic affairs. But since she has found a heart and soul devotion in her musical work, the life of this celebrity has been completely changed upside down. “On a parallel side, smiling almost complacently, Samira is a fair and gracious woman and it pleases citizens from northern Morocco to see her occupying the position of the director of a youth and cultural center,” adds Adnan Talidi, a leading journalist in Tetouan, northern Morocco.
From a gender and thematic angle, Samira Kadiri’s artistic manifestation is formed by an eclectic mosaic of muwashahat (rhymed strophic poetry with a refrain),
zegel, hymns, as well as a variegated bulk of cantigas, jarchas, together with a plethora of ballads, melodies and lullabies (Benbabaali 2000 and Adalberto 1987). In a truly remarkable achievement, Samira’s music transmits deciphered messages of coalescence between the three monotheist cultures, and more importantly rend homage to females, by rejuvenating their hearts, cheering their emotions, besides evoking their feminism. “Similarly, the enduring meaning and mystique of Samira’s art do not translate easily from Mozarabic and Ladino. That is why they keep her articulating the feeling of the ordinary people of Moorish and Sephardi origins- certainly in a way no other artist in the Arab world has done before…,” notes Ahmed Habsain, a famous guitarist and music critic from Tetouan, northern Morocco. Again on the strength of the above said artistic and human qualities, the shrewd Moroccan poet Anass Filali confesses that “this soprano has succeeded in catalyzing reveries of the highest calibre and in playing an essential role in the amalgamation of Mediterranean cultures!”
In a similar vein, dedicated to the Mare Nostrum’s population, the textual tenor of Samira’s sung poems is in itself full of artistic devices like symbolism, prosody, metaphor, aside from a resonant language, featuring an embellished style appropriate to theme. On the plus side, being akin to the miraculous harp, Samira’s polyphonic tune coupled with her thrilling vocal timbre bring about a romantic sound which is capable of delighting higher sensibilities… This soft and crystalline voice has the magical power to heal audiences and (to a large extent) contribute to kinetic and charm their ears. “Correspondingly, the audience can never get enough of her captivating sonic shows,” manifests Maestro Amin Akrami, ex head principle of Tetouan Music Conservatory.
In what respects intonation and voice dynamics, this female vedette avows that she does continuous enormous effort so as to meticulously respect minute academic rules, shaping the domain of musicology and acoustics. By this way, this glamorous soprano is aware that keeping loudness, tempo, continuity, rhythm, tessitura, register and pitch fluctuation under total control is a technical requirement. Another remarkable feature of Samira’s music is that in her songs she often switches between Mozarabic, Ladino and Arabic. Indeed, this code switching is perceived as a normal means of expression within the community from which the songs arise.
At a social level, many sources and witnesses proximate to her entourage affirm unanimously the reality that this daisy femme is a philanthropic candle in darkness and a fountain of mild qualities, on the ground that she possesses prints and hints abounding with gestures of goodwill, hand in hand with symbolic deeds. To this end, Samira has been endowed with ingredients that have made of her an industrious professional, armed with fortitude, exemplary conduct, plus topicality and frankness.
Broadly speaking this time, one may postulate that in the occurrence of Samira this heroine is without minute suspect a comely creature and an emblem of smartness and regal fashion. This belief is fuelled verily by her thin body stature that moves with extreme suavity, in addition to Samira’s gorgeous visage of ultra magnetism that hypnotizes the mind of viewers and vibrates their emotions. What is also for sure is that the softness of her olive skin, wavy dark brown hair and her caramel eyes sparkle with vivacity. In a like manner, supplemented affinities that tantalize a visual rhethoric have to do with Samira’s carefully-applied make up and impeccable coiffure, in addition to her beautiful manicure, plus gayest traditional Moroccan habiliment of chromatic colours and shapes that dazzle spectators- even from long distance!!! This is without forgetting her posh shoes and chic pearls that are displayed with august alacrity and that make her outshine and overtake in terms of smartness many real stunners.
To reiterate the above aforementioned descriptions and impressions, it is undeniable that the preciosité of Samira’s committed art is attributed to the harmonious alliance between the aforementioned elements, hand in hand with her jovial character, corporal luxury and dressing expressionism. Logically, in the light of this view, Samira remains an epitome of talented, courageous, and perseverant femmes who manage to accomplish their vision and to stand on global podiums at all costs.
