Music from Tunisia

One of ECM's best-loved albums: oud master Anouar Brahem in a hushed, nocturnal trio with piano and accordion, dissolving Arabic music, European chamber music and jazz into pure melody and space. A modern classic.

On Blue Maqams, oud master Anouar Brahem brings his instrument into the very heart of the modern jazz tradition, recording in New York with a band of genuine giants. Bassist Dave Holland, drummer Jack DeJohnette and pianist Django Bates meet Brahem's Arabic maqam vocabulary on its own terms, translating its modal subtleties into the elastic swing, deep groove and open interplay of the highest level of jazz. Holland and DeJohnette, who have decades of shared history, provide a foundation that is …

Eight years after Blue Maqams, Anouar Brahem returns with a poignant project, titled after a line of verse by poet Mahmoud Darwish, which asks “Where should the birds fly, after the last sky?” Graceful chamber pieces for oud, cello, piano and bass subtly address the metaphysical question and its broad resonances in a troubled time. While drawing upon the traditional modes of Arab music, Brahem has consistently sought to engage with the wider world, too, and found inspiration in many sources from…

"This album marks the beginning of an ongoing and fruitful relationship between Tunisian oud master/composer Anouar Brahem and the ECM label. From the exhilarating solo “Raf Raf,” we know we are in the presence of someone whose sense of touch, rhythm, melody, and atmosphere speaks straight to the heart from the mind of a visionary. This first track puts us into a time and place where only melody speaks, and the sands of time flow like blood in an infinitely chambered heart. The title track intro…

Double album of music for oud, quartet and string orchestra by Anouar Brahem, with François Couturier (piano), Klaus Gesing (bass clarinet), Björn Meyer (bass) and the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana under Pietro Mianiti. Recorded in Lugano, May 2014.

Album by Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem with Richard Galliano (accordion), François Couturier (piano, synthesizer), Palle Danielsson (double bass), Jon Christensen (drums) and others, recorded September 1994 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo. First released by ECM in 1995.

Anouar Brahem (oud) with Klaus Gesing (bass clarinet), Björn Meyer (bass) and Khaled Yassine (darbouka, bendir), eight Brahem compositions dedicated to Mahmoud Darwish. Recorded October 2008, Artesuono Recording Studio, Udine, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Le Voyage de Sahar is the second ECM album by the trio of oud player Anouar Brahem, pianist François Couturier and accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier, recorded in February 2005 at the Auditorio Radio Svizzera, Lugano, and released in 2006.

Trio album by Anouar Brahem (oud), John Surman (soprano saxophone, bass clarinet) and Dave Holland (double bass), recorded on 13-15 March 1997 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher and released by ECM in 1998.

Jan Garbarek (tenor and soprano saxophone), Anouar Brahem (oud) and Ustad Shaukat Hussain (tabla), recorded August 1992 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM 1515, released 1994.