Mirwais Ahmadzaï

Name	Mirwais Ahmadzaï
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Mirwais Ahmadzaï
Alias	Mirwais Mirwais Stass
Born	October 23, 1960
Origin	Lausanne, Switzerland
Genre	Electronica, House, Funk
Occupation	record producer, songwriter
Years active	1990–present
Label	New Rose Records Naive Records
Associated acts	Madonna Taxi Girl
Url	http://mirwais.org/

Mirwais Ahmadzaï, more commonly known as Mirwais, (born in 1960) is a Paris-based record producer and songwriter. He was born in Switzerland to an Afghan father and an Italian mother. He is a leader in the French style of progressive electronic dance music/progressive electronica. A former member of the defunct 1980s group Taxi Girl, he was re-discovered by Madonna in the late 1990s when he submitted a demo to her then-record label Maverick Records.

Career

Taxi Girl & Juliette et les independents

Known in France for the better part of two decades, Mirwais was a guitarist in the punk group Taxi Girl for 8 years before forming acoustic outfit Juliette et les Independents with his girlfriend Juliette. Taxi Girl's first EP "(S.O.S Mannequin)" was released in early 1980 on Pathé Marconi/EMI.

"For a teenager, the late 70s were a strange mixture of disco music and punk, and it was okay to like them all," he says. Taxi Girl captured the punk rock power of The Stooges, the techno futurism of Kraftwerk and the disco euphoria of Giorgio Moroder and molded the diametrically opposed styles into an electrifying new-wave sound that entertained and inspired a generation of listeners bored by the complacency of 80s French pop. Even the current darlings of the French electronic music scene, such as Daft Punk and Air, continue to namecheck Taxi Girl as a major influence on their artistic directions.

Solo career

In 1990, Mirwais released his first album "Mirwais" which contained 9 tracks, sung in French.

In 1999 he signed to French indie label Naïve Records and released LP album Disco Science. This single had a great success as a club dance hit and appeared in soundtrack for the Guy Ritchie's Snatch movie. In August 2000 he released the full-length studio album Production which includes the single "Paradise (Not For Me)" made in collaboration with Madonna. It also includes two club hits: "Disco Science" and "Naive Song".

Madonna

Madonna recruited him for writing and production collaboration on three of her studio albums: Music (2000), American Life (2003) and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005). He also wrote co-wrote a song that would later appear on her greatest hits album Celebration as a previously unreleased track.

Mirwais contributed the following tracks to the Madonna albums:

Music: "Music", "Impressive Instant", "Nobody's Perfect", "Paradise (Not For Me)", "Don't Tell Me", "I Deserve It".

American Life: Co-produced the entire record and co-wrote all songs with Madonna, with the exception of "Nothing Fails", "X-Static Process" and "Easy Ride" (written by Madonna and other collaborators).

Confessions on a Dance Floor: "Future Lovers", "Let It Will Be", bonus track "Fighting Spirit", and the deleted tracks "Super Pop", "Triggering", and "Keep the Trance".

Celebration (2009): iTunes bonus track "It's So Cool", a previously unreleased track from American Life album.

The Music album was nominated for three Grammy awards including Record of the Year. "Music" won several MTV Europe awards. He was also involved in the writing and production of the title track to the movie Die Another Day, co-written and performed by Madonna. The song was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in 2003.

Fischerspooner

Mirwais also co-produced two tracks "Cloud" and "Never Win" on Fischerspooner's second studio album Odyssey, released in 2005.

Y.A.S.

He has recently been working on a project called Y.A.S. An update was posted on the official website saying: "YAS is the name of Mirwais new project with the singer and composer Yasmine Hamdan. The album was released in France on 8 June 2009. All songs are performed by her. It is some"Arabic Avant Guarde Music"? "

In an interview on 13 January 2007 in lecourrier.ch, Mirwais said "At the moment I work with Yasmine Hamdan (one half of Lebanon electro-duo Soapkills). The idea is that today, in Western culture, we hear about Arabs everyday - in a bad way, because of terrorism, etc - but we lack of cultural representations coming from those countries that could mix with the western culture, whereas this youth is eager to. I don't want to do world music, but a good western production with a real Arab identity."

Y.A.S ' album named "Arabology" was released in April/May 2009, the first single "Get It Right" was also released in June 2009.

Uffie

After remixing "Pop the Glock", Mirwais became one of the producers of Uffie's upcoming album Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans. He composed four songs (ADD SUV, Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans, Illusion of love and Hong Kong Garden), two of which are featurings with Pharrell Williams (ADD SUV) and Mattie Safer (Illusion of love).

According The Independent, "the record peaks with a cover of Siouxsie’s “Hong Kong Garden” which raises one eyebrow for existing and the other for actually being pretty damn good, leaving you looking like Paul McCartney by the end."

In popular culture

The song "Naive Song" from his album "Production" was used in a commercial for the launch of the first Apple "Imac" in 2001.

The song "Naive Song" from his album "Production" was featured as the opening theme for the French television series Clara Sheller.

The song "Disco Science" was used in the Victoria's Secret commercial starring Gisele Bündchen.

The song "Disco Science" was used in the film Snatch starring Brad Pitt in 2000.

The song "Disco Science" was used for the Motorola RAZER cell phone commercial campaign.

The song "Disco Science" was used in the film Arthur and the Invisibles in 2006.

The song "Disco Science" was used in the BBC television show Top Gear in 2007.

The song "Love Profusion" was used in the Estée Lauder commercial to promote the perfume, "Beyond Paradise".

The song "Hollywood" was part of a medley with Madonna's hit song "Into The Groove" for a Gap commercial starring Madonna and Missy Elliott.

The song "Never Young Again" was used in a TV commercial for the Carolina Herrera perfume "Chic" in 2002.

Discography

Studio album

Mirwais (1990, New Rose Records)

Production (2000, Naive Records)

Singles

Cellophane (1990, New Rose Records)

Disco Science (1999, Naive Records)

Naïve Song (2000, Naive Records)

I Can't Wait (2001, Naive Records)

Miss You (2002, Naive Records)

Videography

"Disco Science"

"I Can't Wait"

"Naïve Song"

"V.I ( The last words she said before leaving)"

Remixes

Jean Jacques Smoothie."Two People"(2001)

Fischerspooner "Never Win"(2005)

Franz Ferdinand "Can't Stop Feeling" (2006)

The Slips "Superbeat"(2007)

Shortwave Set. "Til' 69".(2008)

Sonny J "Can't Stop Moving" (2008)

Mika "We Are Golden"(2009)

Uffie "Pop the Glock" (2009)

Madonna "It's so cool" (2009)

Moebius "Light My Fire"(2009)

External links

Official website

Official Taxi Girl website

Mirwais at discogs.com

Rolling Stone - Mirwais

Notes

Category:French record producers Category:French musicians Category:French songwriters Category:French people of Afghan descent Category:French people of Italian descent Category:Swiss people of Afghan descent Category:Swiss people of Italian descent Category:Remixers Category:People from Paris Category:Living people Category:1960 births