ANOUAR BRAHEM (ABO #076)

ANOUAR BRAHEM
OUD OF NOWHERE

Anouar Brahem was born on October 20, 1957 in the town of Halfouine in the Medina of Tunisia. He is an oud player and composer who is widely acclaimed as an innovator in his field. Performing primarily for a jazz audience, he fuses Arabic classical music, folk music and jazz and has been recording since at least 1991 after becoming prominent in his own country in the late 1980s.
He is now considered a master of this complex stringed instrument that has been a staple of Arabic music for centuries. In several albums recorded for the esteemed ECM label of Germany, Brahem has collaborated with musicians from around the world and combined his oud with an array of complementary sounds that give the traditional rhythms of North African music a modern twist. Though he is often hailed as the oud's greatest living player, Brahem avoids dazzling displays of virtuosity in his live playing. "Intensity and sincerity are the most important aspects of my performance," he once said in a Guitar Player interview with Hank Bordowitz. "I seek to be good inside the music. Audiences do not react well to an exhibition of technique."

CD 1
1. Raf Raf
2. Ronda

3. Parfum De Gitane
4. L'oiseau De Bois
5. Conte De L'incroyable Amour
6. Sull Lull (with Jan Garbarek)
7. Qaws (with Jan Garbarek)
8. Claquent Les Voiles

9. Ain Ghazel
10. Seule
11. Kashf

CD 2
1. Badhra
2. Mazad
3. Astrakan Café (1)
4. Nihawend Lunga

5. Halfaouine
6. Artefact, part 1 (with L'Orchestre National du Jazz)
7. Le Pas Du Chat Noir
8. Pique-Nique A Nagpur
9. Leila Au Pays Du Carrousel, Variation
10. Sur Le Fleuve
11. L'Aube
12. Nuba

13. La Chambre
14. Zarabanda