Rabat – A 30-year-old campervan, a German-Polish couple around the same age, and a load full of microphones, mic stands, amplifiers, and professional recording equipment comprise the “Hit the Road Music Studio.”
Founded by audio engineer Adrian Parzentry and artist Kasia Pisula, the project grants talented musicians access to high-quality music recording equipment, especially those who are not able to afford it otherwise. In the past year, the mobile studio has featured approximately 50 musicians and bands and reached over half a million listeners with their productions.
As a traveling journalist from Germany in Morocco, I found out about “Hit The Road Music Studio” by coincidence. I checked out their YouTube channel and got in touchvia Instagram. Adrian and Kasia were based in the desert village of Tagounite at the time, working with the band Daraa Tribes. In the middle of February this year, we finally were able to set up a meeting when my route led me through nearby Zagora.
Inspiration to ‘Hit the Road’
The first thing I really wanted to know was how the couple got the idea to leave everything behind and start their project. Adrian, a tall man with long blond hair and lips always curved into a big smile, explained that he wanted to open up his own music studio for a long time but was not content with the prospect of sitting idly indoors, waiting for musicians to call: “So, the idea popped up to buy a campervan and build up a mobile recording studio and just go hunting musicians all over the world to bring them the good vibes.”
While Adrian takes care of the recording and audio mixing, his girlfriend Kasia is responsible for the project’s visual design aspects and shoots the music videos. In the past few years, the couple has lived in many different places like Berlin and Krakow and always spared lots of time for traveling. They are no longer choosing their destinations only because they are nice to visit, but are driven by the search for good sounds. “This is really our life now,” said Kasia with her dark eyes smiling underneath a black pageboy hairdo, adding that “we like slow travel and meeting people and [sharing] the life. The project allows us to combine all of this.”
Throughout the conversation, they told me about their pilot in the summer of 2018. They traveled for one month to Essaouira, a coastal city in southern Morocco. At the time, they did not yet have their campervan. Instead, they stuffed microphones and stands into their backpacks and simply walked through the city, asking anyone if they were interested in recording a single.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U41_QTky1Oc&feature=emb_title
The idea worked out. They met and recorded singer-songwriters, street musicians, and even entire orchestras. During this short time, they already developed the notion that Morocco is a very special country regarding sounds. “Music is such a big part of the culture,” said Adrian. “People just play and got the rhythm inside. Nobody is ashamed. This enables musicians to develop many different styles.” One year, later they had saved up enough money for their mobile studio and decided to return to Morocco, “the land of music.”
Tribal harmonies
Perhaps more than any other element of Moroccan music, the different styles of the Sahara coupled with the region’s extraordinary instruments left the couple deeply impressed. One example of the unique desert style is the band Daraa Tribes. “We play the blues of the desert,” said rhythm guitarist Mustapha Agermim. He had just returned to the scene along with his fellow band members after changing from street clothes into traditional outfits consisting of long colorful garments and turbans. “The band tries to take what is very old and traditional and mix it with modern instrument,” he explained.
Their sound is one thing, but what really made Kasia and Adrian want to work with the group is their message of peace, love, and unity. Each of the five members is from a different tribe. “In other places in the world you can still see tribal wars. So, we are showing people of the world that we are all here in the Draa Valley living in harmony,” Agermim added.
