Walid Ben Selim, Raül Refree & Vincent Moon

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Image courtesy of Grec Festival de Barcelona.

A mystical journey bridging eras and cultures through Arabic and Western poetry, the voice of a Moroccan performer, the music of a Barcelona-based composer attuned to contemporary sounds, and live images from an experimental filmmaker.

Stéphane Krasniewski, director of the world music festival Les Suds in Arles, repeatedly mentioned Walid Ben Selim to Raül Refree whenever they met. Until the day he finally brought them together to perform. The extraordinary synergy they experienced in that first meeting sparked a collaboration between a free-spirited, boundary-breaking Barcelona musician, composer, and producer, and a “humanist, singer, and composer in love with poetry.” Born in Morocco, Ben Selim blends electro and spoken word with Arabic poetry by philosopher/poet Al Maari and mystic Mansûr al-Hallaj.

Their first public performance together took place in 2025 at Les Suds, one of Europe’s leading world music festivals. Under the title Dhikra (Arabic for “memory”), they celebrated poetry and oral tradition through songs in which Refree’s piano and guitar explore new sonic pathways, connecting the audience both with the community and the mystery of the human condition. In Barcelona, they will be joined by Vincent Moon, a nomadic filmmaker who has spent twenty years exploring global music (or the world through music) and who will add live images to this piece of performance art.

Walid Ben Selim is a singer and composer born in Casablanca, who draws his main inspiration from poetry, especially Arabic poetry, delivering hypnotic and theatrical performances. A pioneer of the Moroccan rap scene, he created the N3rdistan project and has consistently built bridges between eras and cultures, blending literary tradition with electronic music and contemporary sounds. In 2024, together with Filastine and Brent Arnold, he composed the music for the opera Ali, a production by La Monnaie / De Munt that premiered at the KVS Theatre in Brussels.

Raül Refree has transformed contemporary music through collaborations with a stellar lineup including Rosalía, Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Niño de Elche, Rodrigo Cuevas, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), and the Portuguese artist Lina, among others. Some of his albums have become instant classics, and his artistic vision has influenced music across Europe. 

Vincent Moon is an independent artist and sonic explorer. For the past twenty years, he has been making films worldwide in search of sounds and communities, from shamanic rituals to electronic experiments and beyond.

Sounds of the City: Summer Music Festivals

What are your plans for summer? If you’re staying in the city, you won’t be alone. Barcelona is becoming a go-to destination for festival lovers, given Catalunya’s covetable combination of culture, great weather and an increasingly diverse concert circuit. So if you’re looking to expand your horizons while staying put this season, check out our article Sounds of the City: Summer Music Festivals for a summary of the summer music events taking place in Barcelona, from big-name gatherings to boutique takeovers.

For more music events check our online events calendar.