BIOGRAPHY

If you are a fan of the city’s night music scene, you are probably very familiar with Boulila. The band’s founder, Boudouch Yassine, fashions Afrobeat and jazz-funk influences in the Moroccan Gnawa tradition. For an artist immersed in traditional music, this fusion was a bold move back in 2019.

The singer-guitarist is so well suited to the genre that his group, along with renowned saxophonist Damien-Jade Cyr, won the 2021 Syli d’Or prize. Together, the pair of them seduced the Montreal press, which quickly recognized their exceptional talent as they exploded onto the scene, drawing large crowds. Boulila, which has worked closely with Wu-Sen & the Fam, Marocouleurs and The Kais, successfully imparts its absolu mystical Gnawa creed.

For devotees of Quebec festivals, including Gaspé’s Festival du Bout du Monde and Festival Vue sur la Relève, Boulila is synonymous with trance and bodily release through the magic of its music. A bright star in the form of Tuareg perfection.