As musical influences, saxophonist and composer Johann Guihard cites the creativity of Soul jazz Orchestra, as well as Herbie Hancock's groove and the psychedelism of Barney Wilen's 'Moshi', and describes Marabout Orkestra as an afro groove band. After listening to 'Seven Lives', the five piece band's debut effort, that's a description we can definitely agree with, as in the track list we discovered both afrobeat ('L'Affreux Beat', 'Fire In The Bush'), Ethio-jazz (title track 'Seven Lives', 'Mojo', 'Addis Blues') and soca/calypso ('Socalypso'), with the fact bass player Malo Darcel playing a sousaphane instead of an actual bass, standing out. In any case the type of disc we're always up for!