Biography
Kefaya emerged in 2012 when Italian guitarist and producer Giuliano Modarelli joined forces in London with northern English keyboardist and producer Al MacSween. Sharing both musical interests and a commitment to internationalist politics, the pair adopted the Arabic term for “enough” as their name, echoing the slogan of the 2011 Arab Spring protests. They spent subsequent years journeying across Europe, the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent, capturing performances by musicians rooted in diverse folk traditions and repurposing those recordings as source material for their own studio work.
Their first release, the self-issued 2016 album Radio International, wove together concerns of global solidarity, migration, border crossing, and collective resistance. Framed as a fictional radio transmission, the record incorporated static, station noise, and spoken DJ interludes between tracks. The project earned widespread praise and secured the duo the best newcomer prize at the 2017 Songlines Music Awards.
Onstage, Kefaya assembled a fluid ensemble of established international players for appearances at festivals such as Womad, Celtic Connections, and Latitude. Among the contributors were Italian saxophonist Daniele Sepe, Cuban violinist Omar Puente, Indian drummer Sarathy Korwar, and Kurdish vocalist Olcay Bayir. The group later stabilized around Belgian drummer Joost Hendrickx and Italian bassist Domenico Angarano.
After signing with Bella Union, Kefaya partnered with Afghan protest singer and refugee Elaha Soroor for their 2019 follow-up, Songs of Our Mothers. The album revisits traditional Farsi women’s folk songs, refracting them through jazz, dub, Indian classical music, electronica, and electric rock.
Their first release, the self-issued 2016 album Radio International, wove together concerns of global solidarity, migration, border crossing, and collective resistance. Framed as a fictional radio transmission, the record incorporated static, station noise, and spoken DJ interludes between tracks. The project earned widespread praise and secured the duo the best newcomer prize at the 2017 Songlines Music Awards.
Onstage, Kefaya assembled a fluid ensemble of established international players for appearances at festivals such as Womad, Celtic Connections, and Latitude. Among the contributors were Italian saxophonist Daniele Sepe, Cuban violinist Omar Puente, Indian drummer Sarathy Korwar, and Kurdish vocalist Olcay Bayir. The group later stabilized around Belgian drummer Joost Hendrickx and Italian bassist Domenico Angarano.
After signing with Bella Union, Kefaya partnered with Afghan protest singer and refugee Elaha Soroor for their 2019 follow-up, Songs of Our Mothers. The album revisits traditional Farsi women’s folk songs, refracting them through jazz, dub, Indian classical music, electronica, and electric rock.