Tarik Banzi, Al-Andalus

Tarik Banzi was born in Tetuan, Morocco and grew up immersed in the Andalusian tradition. He lived in Madrid, Spain throughout the 80's & moved in Flamenco, Jazz and Middle Eastern music circles. Tarik formed the group Al-Fatihah with Jewish musicologist Dr. Javier Sanchez, which has been recognized in Spain as the first group of Middle Eastern music. At the same time Tarik was collaborating and recording with flamenco masters such as Paco de Lucia, Manolo Sanlucar, Enrique Morente...

At the same time Tarik was collaborating and recording with flamenco masters such as Paco de Lucia, Manolo Sanlucar, Enrique Morente, Jorge Pardo, Carles Benavent and Carlos Carli where Tarik introduced such mainstays into the flamenco sound as the darbuka (dumbek). In the late 80's Tarik & Julia formed the group Amal together with Maria Ahmed, Rasgui Boujemaa, together with Tarik & Rasgui's students Fain Duenas andVicente Molina. Fain & Vicente later went on to from the group Radio Tarifa.

Tarik is a multi-instrumentalist who has toured Europe and North America extensively. He composes and performs music for cinema, theater and television. Tarik completed his Doctoral studies in Fine Arts at The Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (A.B.D.). He is the artistic director of Al-Andalus (www.andalus.com) as well as the co-founder, composer and performer of Al-Andalus.