ALAM
France
Meet ALAM… a reggae band from the Southwest of France. ALAM means ‘nature’ in Indonesian and ‘the world’ in Arabic. It also means ‘to know’ in tagalog (Phillipines).
ALAM was formed in 2008 by Marie, the singer, who was wanting to create a reggae band. They quickly recorded their first album, very roots album called ‘Premier Souffle’. They started to perform concerts in the south coast of France, playing in famous reggae bars.
In 2008 and 2009, they managed to perform on the big stages, opening up for famous reggae artists like SOJA (Hall Krakatoa, Mérignac), U Roy and Pablo Moses (Hall Pierre Cravey, La Teste de Buch), Danakil, Alborosie and Le Peuple de l’Herbe (Reggae Festival in La Teste).
In 2011, they recorded their second album, ‘Family’, a very touching album enriched by the experiences of their concert performances and time spent together while touring every year (50 gigs per year). Marie was pregnant with her first child when they recorded the songs in the studio!
As their music matured, ALAM made their way onto the french reggae scene performing at Reggae Sun Ska 2011 and Darc Festival with Tiken Jah Fakol. They also met the great Jamaican artist Kiddus I (Member of Inna di Yard), who appears on the song, ‘Dis moi Man’, in a perfect roots reggae style.
In 2014, ALAM faced some changes in the band which slowed down their music production. An EP was released entitled ‘Un autre chemin’. The release of the EP allowed them to perform at the Reggae Sun Ska Festival during a time in which Marie was pregnant with her second child.
ALAM’s third album, Sounds of Freedom, drops on March 2, 2018 and includes an appearance by Soon T. The album has a mature sound in which you can strongly feel ALAM’s identity and influences of Roots, Reggae, Hip Hop, and Pop soul.
ALAM is a band that believes in their fate, following their way in music with faith and love. We can feel it in their 3rd album, Sounds of Freedom!