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Anouar Brahem

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Anouar Brahem is a Tunisian oud player and composer, born on 20 October 1957 in the Halfaouine district of the medina of Tunis. He studied the oud at the National Conservatory of Tunisia and then with the oud master Ali Sriti. In 1981 he went to Paris, where he stayed for four years and wrote music for Tunisian film and theatre. Later, back in Tunisia, he was director of the Ensemble musical de la ville de Tunis. He then toured the United States and Canada and signed with ECM Records.

Music and breakthrough

At ECM he made a series of albums, including Barzakh in 1991, Conte de l'incroyable amour in 1992, Madar in 1994 with Jan Garbarek and Ustad Shaukat Hussain, Khomsa in 1995 and Thimar in 1998 with the saxophonist John Surman and the bassist Dave Holland. He also wrote the music for the film Les Silences du Palais in 1994. He usually plays in a small group, often with the Tunisian percussionist Lassad Hosni and the violinist Bechir Selmi. In 2017 Blue Maqams appeared, with Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland and Django Bates, among others.

Influence

Brahem combines Arabic classical music, folk music and jazz. Together with Rabih Abou-Khalil and Dhafer Youssef he made the oud an important instrument in ethnic jazz. His calm, searching music shows how an instrument from the Middle East found space in the ECM world.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a piece from Thimar and notice the interplay of the oud with the saxophone and the bass. Try to hear how the oud introduces a melody and the others respond to it.

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists