Bukahara

Actually, after the release of their current album “Canaries In A Coal Mine”, Bukahara should be on an extended concert tour through German clubs at this moment and rock relevant open airs again in the summer. But first of all it turns out differently, and secondly than you think: the Cologne quartet was only able to perform a single gig on its sold-out tour before the pandemic put global culture on hold. But instead of twiddling their thumbs, Bukahara successfully used the forced break to write songs – and now present the first result with their brand new single “Friend”!

Standstill instead of tour hustle and bustle – a real challenge for the formation that emerged from a former street music band. But as is well known, Bukahara have never come to terms with the circumstances, but have always questioned things, called them by their proper name and gone their own, sometimes unusual paths. A path that recently led the band back to the established Red Horn District studio in Detmold, where Bukahara refined and further developed their rousing signature sound made up of folk, swing, North African influences and singer/songwriter elements.

With the brand new single, Bukahara now deliver a first foretaste of their newly defined and detailed sound, without being unfaithful to themselves and their beloved style. With “Friend” Bukahara celebrate the special magic of the fragile and combine a reduced, acoustic instrumentation with bittersweet lyrics about a lost friendship, which in the end increase in the hopeful-euphoric catchy refrain “Light is my favorite color”. “I’m telling you about a very special person from my childhood,” Soufian concludes. “He was very talented and unfortunately, like so many tragic figures, he completely drifted away at some point. Sometimes you just lose sight of yourself and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The band

• Soufian Zoghlami – vocals, guitar, drums
• Ahmed Eid – bass, percussion
• Daniel Avi Schneider – mandolin, violin
• Max von Einem – trombone, drums