Artist For Today: Anouar Brahem

Hi,

I'd like to start this off with my favourite album from this lad.

Anouar Brahem / Le Voyage De Sahar

This is a gorgeous album. It puts me sitting in a tent in the desert watching the moon rise every time I listen to it. The Anouar Brahem trio consists of an oud (played by Anouar himself), an accordion (Francois Couturier) and piano (Jean Louis Matinier). Rich, textured, warm ambient jazz (with strong French and Arabic influences). Once again ECM is a fitting label! It's really hard to describe this album objectively I am so impressed by it :)

I have a few other albums from this trio, Le Pas du Chat Noir is very similar in style to this with the same trio. Thimar has a trio with John Surman on clarinet and saxophone and Dave Holland on double-bass, while Conte de l'incroyable amour has a quartet (Barbaros Erkose on clarinet, Kudsi Erguner on the nai - a Middle Eastern flute, Lassad Husni on bendir and darbouka - Middle Eastern drums).

All these albums have a lovely languorousness - as if the weather is too warm to do much but listen to beautiful music :) I know I'm waxing lyrical here, but all the albums are wonderful. Though for me the peak is (for the moment anyway) Le Voyage De Sahar.

So, excellent all the way here, you cannot go wrong with any of these. This reminds me I have been meaning to get a hold of Astrakan Cafe for a long time. Time to go do it ... :)

Slán go fóil, Jim.

Update 17 September 2009: Well, Astrakan Cafe has lived up to my (very high) expectations, a lovely trio of oud, clarinet and drums, intensely atmospheric, supremely evocative of what I imagine to be the atmosphere of a Middle Eastern café :)