AIWA is a collective founded in 1998 by Wamid and Naufalle, two Iraqi brothers brought up in France. They began mixing their musical practice (bass for Wamid and percussions and Arabic rap for his brother) to their growing interest for electronical music they were producing.
They're trying to make the classical Arabic music heard from their parent's records (Om Kalsoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Fairuz...) meeting with the western music. They've been joined by Severine (female singer and also composer), Phil (drums), Cyril (guitar), Koulechov (turntables) and Ga?l (saxophones, flutes and keyboards).
Their meeting in 2002 with the Canadian label WIKKID RECORDS is a milestone for the band with the release of their first album in 2003, licensed worldwide : (Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Algeria...) A?wa made more than 150 concerts all around France but also in Switzerland, Morocco, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Poland and is touring a lot in the UK.