Anouar Brahem
From Open Encyclopedia
Anouar Brahem (أنور ابراهم) (born October 20, 1957) is a Tunisian oud player and composer who is widely regarded as an innovator in his field. Performing for primarilly 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.
Brahem began studying the oud at age 10 under the tutelage of Ali Sitri at the National Conservatory of Music in Tunis. In 1987, after six years in Paris, he spent two years as the director of the Ensemble Musical De In Ville De Tunis. ECM released his first album (not counting a cassette self-release in his youth) in 1991, called Barzakh.
In playing style, Anouar Brahem is often compared to Rabih Abou-Khalil, though his compositions tend to be more mellow and spare. Most often he utilizes an ensemble of three or four musicians, and on no two albums are his accompanying instruments the same. He has collaborated throughout his career and on several albums with Turkish musicians: percussionist Lassad Hosni, violinist Bechir Selmi and clarinetist Barbaros Erköse. He has also performed live concerts with these same ensembles.
Discography
- 1991, Barzakh (ECM 1432) with Lassad Hosni and Bechir Selmi.
- 1992, Conte de l'incroyable amour (ECM 1457) with Barbaros Erköse.
- 1994, Madar (ECM 1515) with Jan Garbarek and Shaukat Hussain.
- 1995, Khomsa (ECM 1561) with Richard Galliano and Bechir Selmi.
- 1998, Thimar (ECM 1641) with Jon Surman and Dave Holland.
- 2000, Astrakan Café (ECM 1718) with Barbaros Erköse and Lassad Hosni.
- 2002, Le Pas du Chat Noir (ECM 1792) with Francois Couturier and Jean-Louis Matinier.
