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| Alla |
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| Abdelaziz
Abdellah, known by his nickname "Alla", is
a self-taught Algerian oud player who developed his
own style of improvisation and became known as an unusually
creative virtuoso who improvised in a very different
style of oud than other masters. He comes from Bechar
in the Algerian Sahara and his music is ample and has
a spiritual dimension. It is intense and light at the
same time and brings that inner silence that takes its
roots in the desert. Alla is recognised as the best
oud player in all of southern Oran. He has held several
concerts in Europe, including the Theatre de la Ville
in Paris. Recently he began mixing accents from other
Mediterranean regions in his music. |
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| 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: Jan Garbarek,
Richard Galliano, Dave Holland and John Surman, Manu
Dibango, Manu Katché, Taralagati, Fareed Haque, Pierre
Favre, François Couturier and Jean-Louis Matinier.
Track 1 is
from his recent ECM album
Le voyage de Sahar.
Track 2 is from his last album Le Pas Du Chat Noir
and tracks 3 &
4 are from his ECM production Astrakan Café. |
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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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| Nedim
Nalbantoglu |
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Nedim
is a violin virtuoso who comes from Kirkareli in Turkey.
He was born in 1966, and, influennced by his father,
who leads an orchestra specialized in Ottoman music
and folk songs, he learned music at an early age. Later
he went to Istanbul to study music at the Istanbul Conservatory.
After graduation, he moved to Paris to study the classical
repertory and there he joined the National Jazz Orchestra.
He has recorded with many different groups and given
concerts throughout France, Tangiers, Berlin, Lisbon,
Stockholm and Munich. |
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