Thanks to his meeting with late Charlie Mariano, one of the greatest saxophonists of all times, a jazz icon and world class musician and his Arabic, North African music, a broad range of a multi-various World Music was born and witnessed great success wherever played.

He met jazz saxophonist Charlie Mariano in 1997 in Germany. For Smahi, he was a teacher, friend, mentor, and lifelong inspiration. He worked with him more than 15 years. They performed many years together and achieved numerous musical projects. The last achievements are:

CD “La rose du Sable”: Chaouki Smahi, Charlie Mariano, Billy Cobham and Friends, 2009
CD “Sadaka” (friendship): Charlie Mariano and Chaouki Smahi, 2008
CD “Charlie Mariano´ Nassim (1998), allcomposed by Chaouki Smahi

Chaouki Smahi was a great enrichment and inspiration to Charlie Mariano, in addition to being an excellent musician and friend.
“La Rose du Sable” was the last CD Charlie Mariano recorded in 2009 and a evidence of a genuine musical friendship.

Chaouki Smahi’s music gave a particular aspect to documentary movies on Charlie Mariano’s life. In addition to this, Smahi participated in many documentary movies on Charlie Mariano and Jazz world music
– Worlds a documentary series produced by EuroArts Entertainment (1998)
Euro Arts Entertainment/SDR & Arte (Public TV). Charlie Mariano’s Jazz

– Charlie Mariano- Last visits (February 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vqqm3Uc5KQ

He accompanied Wadi El Safi, the “King” of Arabic music, on his German tour in 1999.

Chaouki Smahi performed and toured in Europe also with the legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders (music partner of John Coltrane). He was invited to the United States by Pharoah Sanders. They performed together in several concerts, in the New York and several festivals in USA (Los Angeles, Hollywood…)
He worked with T.A.S. Mani, the Indian drum genius and founder of the Indian Karnataka College of Percussion, the Indian master of Vocal Improvisation R.A. Ramamani.

Currently, he is working with the legendary drummer Billy Cobham.

Chaouki Smahi grew up in Algeria and Marokko. Today he is working as Highest Supervisor of Quality Control of Software Technology and Computer Sciences.