For the plant also known as Orange Blossom, see Choisya

Choisya

Choisya is a small genus of aromatic evergreen shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as Mexican Orange or Mock Orange due to the similarity of their flowers with those of the closely related Orange, both in shape and scent...

Orange Blossom is a French band that plays a mix of electronic and world music.

The band was formed in Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

 in 1993 with Pierre-Jean Chabot (known as PJ Chabot) on violin and Jean-Christophe Waechter (known as Jay C.) on percussions and vocals.
In 1994, Éric (organ) joined the band and a first audio tape was recorded in September.
In 1995 the band stabilized with the arrival of Carlos Robles Arenas on drums, djembé

Djembe

A djembe also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands....

, and sampler, and the departure of Éric.
Their first disc, Orange Blossom, came out in 1997 on the Prikosnovénie

Prikosnovenie

Prikosnovénie is a French independent record label founded in Nantes in 1990 by Frédéric Chaplain and Sabine Adélaïde who moved to its current home in the medieval city of Clisson in 2001...

 label, selling 15,000 copies.

Before their second album came out, the group was influenced by ethnic and traditional music. They met and collaborated with several non-French artists, like Ivorian percussion group Yelemba D'Abidjan and Egyptian group Ganoub. They toured in Egypt, France, and Belgium. Vocalist Jay C. left the band in 2000 and created Prajña. In 2002, percussionist Mathias Vaguenez and vocalist Leïla Bounous joined the group. The album Everything Must Change came out in 2005 on the Bonsaï Music label.

Carlos Robles Arenas is Mexican. Leïla Bounous is part Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

n, part Breton

Breton people

The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...

.

Discography

• Self-produced 6 title audio tape (1994)
  1. Prayer
  2. Child & Doll
  3. Speedman
  4. Welcome In My Brain
  5. Jesse's Grandfather
  6. Red Orange Blossom
• Self-produced 4 title audio tape (1996)
  1. Ray
  2. Die Stadt
  3. Bali
  4. My Village
• Orange Blossom (1997)
  1. Anaconda Girl
  2. Maria Del Sol
  3. Bata
  4. N.
  5. Die Stadt
  6. I'm Dying
  7. Trinity
• Everything Must Change (2005)
  1. Maldito (Cursed)
  2. Habibi (My Darling)
  3. Cheft El Khof (I've Seen Fear)
  4. Desert Dub
  5. Nafsi (My Soul)
  6. Souffrance
  7. Blama
  8. Yazaman (A Long Time Ago)
  9. Denya (Life)
  10. Bendimina (My Heart Is Aching)
  11. Ayoub (hidden track)

External links

• Prikosnovénie (French, audio samples)
• Bonsaï Music (French, audio samples)