Le Voyage de Sahar Anouar Brahem

• 1 Sur le fleuve 06:33
• 2 Le voyage de Sahar 06:58
• 3 L'aube 05:48
• 4 Vague - E la nave va 06:20
• 5 Les jardins de Ziryab 04:35
• 6 Nuba 03:13
• 7 La chambre 05:01
• 8 Cordoba 05:31
• 9 Halfaouine 02:08
• 10 La chambre, var. 03:47
• 11 Zarabanda 04:27
• 12 Eté andalous 07:06
• 13 Vague, var. 02:31
• Total Runtime 01:03:58

Info for Le Voyage de Sahar

Acoustic Guitar magazine called Brahem/Couturier/Matinier “the oddest trio ever to play contemporary Arabic music”, before going on to laud the work: “The result is far more than an expression of Arabic traditions; echoes of Satie, Paris cafés, flamenco, and Balkan music infuse the melodies. Accordion, oud and piano continually exchange roles, each providing melody, rhythm, and ornamental filigree.”

“Le Voyage de Sahar” features persuasive, emotionally powerful new compositions by Anouar Brahem, and also incorporates new approaches to three of his most requested pieces: “Vague”, “E la nave va” and “Halfaouine”

'The lute is an instrument laden with symbolic significance that marks like an acoustic icon the conver-gence of Asia, Europe, and Africa as they come together to form the irregular circumference of the Mediterranean. An oud player like Anouar Brahem, who has explored the most secret depths of sound and pondered long and lovingly on the legacy of the artistic music of the Arab world, and of the Is-lamic world in general, is thus a witness to cultural transformations as complex as they are profound.

The way Brahem's music resists classification is a measure of the quality of his artistic career. By eluding labels, or better by slipping through all kinds of definitions from jazz to, by way of world mu-sic, he has sanctioned a freedom of expression that is uncommon in the musical context within which he works. Between popular songs and large orchestras with a plethora of instruments there would seem to be little room for a soloist. Yet, with tenacious patience, Brahem has successfully carved out a niche for himself, in places where his instrument would seem relegated to a supporting role. If many young lutists of today think of the oud as a particularly expressive instrument then it is thanks to the example set by this Tunisian musician, as well as to that set by the Iraqi brothers Jamil and Mounir Bashir. Brahem's taste for the cosmopolitan forms of Arab music, influenced by the Turkish school, at once reveals his concept of the oud - a concept intimately linked with the essence of the traditional language, that transnational frontier represented by the modal constellations known to Arab musicians as maqamat - and the organological kinship between the various members of the great Mediterranean lute family. Hence the allusions to the guitar, the saz, and the baglama, seen as elements of a composite identity that highlights the affinities between these instruments.

'Brahem is a marvellously lyrical musician and his long, ever-expanding melodies suit both his and Matinier’s approach to their instruments. Couturier’s role, by contrast, is to act as a fixed point in the landscape and allow his colleagues to travel always hopefully. It’s hard to choose a favourite piece, though the opening “Sur Le Fleuve” is a beautiful statement of purpose and intent. But there are so many glorious moments. … This is wonderfully evocative music, soaked in the atmosphere of places and time. Listening to “Été Andalous”, one feels that dry, burning heat and sees that fabulous blue sky and the landscape and buildings shimmering in the sun.' (Duncan Heining, Jazzwise)

Anouar Brahem, oud
François Couturier, piano
Jean Louis Matinier, accordion

Anouar Brahem
was born in 20 th October 1957 in Halfaouine in the Medina of Tunis. Encouraged by his father, an engraver and printer, but also a music lover, Brahem began his studies of the oud, the lute of Arab world, at the age of 10 at the Tunis National Conservatory of Music, where his principal teacher was the oud master Ali Sriti. An exeptional student, by the age of 15 Brahem was playing regularly with local orchestras. At 18 he decided to devote himself entirely to music. For four consecutive years Ali Sriti received him at home every day and continued to transmit to him the modes, subtleties and secrets of Arab classical music through the traditional master / disciple relationship.

Little by little Brahem began to broaden 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. 'I enjoyed the change of environment,' he says' and discovered the close links that exist between all these musics'.

Brahem increasingly distanced himself from an environment largely dominated by entertainment music. He wanted more than to perform at weddings or to join one of the many existing ensembles which he considered anachronistic and where the oud was usually no more than an accompanying instrument for singers. A deepfelt conviction led him to give first place to this preferred instrument of Arab music and to offer the Tunisian public instrumental and oud solo concerts. He began writing his own compositions and gave a series of solo concerts in various cultural venues. He also issued a self-produced cassette, on which he was accompanied by percussionist Lassaad Hosni.

A loyal public of connoisseurs gradually rallied around him and the Tunisian press gave enthusiastic support. Reviewing one of Brahem's first performances, critic Hatem Touil wrote: 'this talented young player has succeed not only in overwhelming the audience but also in giving non -vocal music in Tunisia its claim to nobolity while at the same time restoring the fortunes of the lute. Indeed, has a lutist produced such pure sounds or concretised with such power and conviction, the universality of musical experience'

In 1981, the urge to seek new experiences became ever stronger and his departure for Paris, that most cosmopolitan of cities, enabled him to meet musicians from very different genres. He remained for four years, composing extensively, notably for Tunisian cinema and theatre. He collaborated with Maurice Béjart for his ballet 'Thalassa Mare Nostrum' and with Gabriel Yared as lutist for Costa Gavras’ film 'Hanna K.'.

In 1985 he returned to Tunis and an invitation to perform at the Carthage festival provided him with the opportunity of bringing together, for 'Liqua 85' , outstanding figures of Tunisian and Turkish music and French jazz. These included Abdelwaheb Berbech, the Erköse brothers, François Jeanneau, Jean-Paul Celea, François Couturier and others. The success of the project earned Brahem Tunisia's Grand National Prize for Music.

In 1987, he was appointed director of the Musical Ensemble of the City of Tunis (EMVT). Instead of keeping the large existing orchestra, he broke it up into formations of a variable size, giving it new orientations: one year in the direction of new creations and the next more towards traditional music. The main productions were 'Leïlatou Tayer' (1988) and 'El Hizam El Dhahbi' (1989) in line with his early instrumental works and following the main axis of his research. In these compositions, he remained essentially within the traditional modal space, although he transformed its references and upset its heirarchy. Following a natural disposition towards osmosis, which has absorbed the Mediterranean, African and Far-Eastern heritages, he also touched from time to time upon other musical expressions: European music, jazz and other forms.

With 'Rabeb' (1989) and 'Andalousiat' (1990), Anouar Brahem returned to classical Arab music. Despite the rich heritage transmitted by Ali Sriti and the fact that this music constitued the core of his training, he had in fact, never performed it in public. With this 'return' he wished to contribute to the urgent rehabilitation of this music. He put together a small ensemble, a 'takht', the original form of the traditional orchestra, where each instrumentalist plays as both a soloist and as an improviser. Brahem believes this is the only means of restoring the spirit, the subtlety of the variations and the intimacy of this chamber music. He called upon the best Tunisian musicians, such as Béchir Selmi and Taoufik Zghonda, and undertook thorough research work on ancient manuiscripts with strict care paid to transparency, nuances and details. For more information visit: http://www.anouarbrahem.com

Booklet for Le Voyage de Sahar