Anouar Brahem | Artist
Anouar Brahem is a Tunisian oud player and composer born 1957 in Tunis. He is widely acclaimed as an innovator in his field, performing primarily for a jazz audience, he combines Arabic classical music, folk music and jazz. Brahem has been recording since 1991, as a soloist and leader of his own Trio and Quartet ensembles. The artist has also recorded and performed with various big names in the ECM jazz stable including Jan Garbarek, John Surman, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette. Along with oud virtuosos Rabih Abou-Khalil and Dhafer Youssef, Brahem has helped establish the oud as an important instrument of ethno-jazz. Most often he plays in an ensemble of three or four further musicians. Although he initially focused on Arabic music, Brahem increasingly incorporated elements of jazz, in an ambient-minimalist setting. This was enhanced during the six years that he spent in Paris (1981-1987), performing at festivals and collaborating with choreographer Maurice Bejart on a production of A Return to Carthage which received the prestigious National Award of Excellence In Music. To-date Bahem has released 11 studio albums including collaborations. Standouts include Conte de l'incroyable amour (1992), Astrakan café (2000), Le pas du chat noir (2002), Le voyage de Sahar (2006), and The Astounding Eyes of Rita (2009). Also highly recommended are the collaboration albums Madar (1994) with Jan Garbarek and Shaukat Hussain Khan, Thimar (1998) with John Surman and Dave Holland, and Blue Maqams (2017) with Dave Holland, Jack De Johnette and Django Bates. Anouar Brahem's ensemble is far from a traditional jazz band. The rhythm section is confined to 2 traditional Arabic drums and Brahem's oud, who's role is somewhere between rhythmic basslines and solo melodies weaving complex yet minimal passages of hypnotizing musicianship. While being firmly rooted in Arabic regional music yet with the distinctive swing of Western jazz tradition, the oud melodies sound straight out of a Blue Note jazz release, while being perfectly at home in a public square of Tunis or Amman.
Artist Website: wikipedia/Anouar_Brahem
Featured Albums: Anouar Brahem
Related Artists: John Surman, Jan Garbarek
