| Anouar
Brahem |
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Anouar Brahem was born in
1957 in Halfaouine in the Medina of Tunis, and began his
studies of the oud at a young age at the Tunis National
Conservatory of Music, where his principal teacher was the
oud master Ali Sriti. He broadened his field of listening to
include other musical expressions, from around the
Mediterranean and from Iran and India...then jazz began to
command his attention. He is an artist who, while profoundly
imbued with his Arab heritage, is unequivocably modern,
well-anchored in his times and headed toward the future.
Brahem has worked with musicians of different horizons:
JanGarbarek, Richard Galliano, Dave Holland and John Surman,
Manu Dibango, Manu Katché, Taralagati, Fareed Haque, Pierre
Favre. These two tracks are from his latest ECM production
"Astrakan Café", with clarinettist Barbaros Erköse
and percussionist Lassad Hosni. |
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| Master
Musicians Of Jajouka & Talvin Singh |
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These
2 tracks are from a recent unique album produced by Talvin
Singh, in which he meets the Master Musicians Of Jajouka to
remix an old traditional Moroccan music. Master Musicians
are the keepers of a centuries-old tradition, and they live
in Jajouka, a small village in the Rif mountains of northern
Morocco. They play ouds, bamboo flutes, double-headed drums,
and rhaitas (high-pitched oboe-like horns).Their music consists
of elaborate dance and ritual, focused around local mythology.
The group has worked with many international artists, including
Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Ornette Coleman, Maceo
Parker, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Bill Lasswell and Elliot
Sharp. It is led by Bachir Attar, who has attempted to bring
Jajouka to connect with modern music, jazz and fusion, and
now with Singh, to connect with electronic music. He believes
that such attempts are not going to make Jajouka lose its
purity.
Talvin Singh is a world famous composer, producer and tabla
player. He was born in London and began playing hand drums
"tablas" at an early age. As a teenager he studied tabla under
one of the great masters in India. In London, Talvin experienced
the conservatism that plagued the British classical Indian
music establishment. This antagonism pushed him to explore
other music and other worlds, where his talents as a tabla
player could be appreciated. As with Talvin’s last album,
OK, his new album with Master Musicians is a fusion of traditional
and contemporary music; it is a blend of the hypnotic sound
of the Master Musicians with the cutting edge of dance, techno
and drum ‘n’ bass loops and much more. According to Talvin,
he felt familiar with Jajouka music as soon as he heard it,
as if "Jajouka had a direct descendant from Indian music". |
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| Djamel
Benyelles |
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Djamel Benyelles is an Algerian musician and he is Rai's most
famous string player. He can be heard with Cheb Khaled, Cheb
Mami and others.
This piece is instrumental blending Arab classical with contemporary
touches. |
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| Jamshied
Sharifi |
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Jamshied
Sharifi is an Iranian-American artist who grew up in Kansas
City and got his early musical training in classical and jazz
piano at Berkeley School of Music. Later on he began exploring
his own Persian roots and studied the Middle Eastern and the
African musical cultures. In his works Sharifi fuses Middle
Eastern and jazz music in a unique blend.This piece is from
his album "A Prayer For The Soul Of Layla," which was voted
Best Contemporary World Music Album in the first annual New
Age Voice Music Awards. |
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