Through the month of June, every (relevant) comment here will be an entry in a month-end random drawing for...(drum roll please)...
Anouar Brahem's album Le Voyage de Sahar
Better odds than the lottery, and it'll help me know what you like about SoundRoots, and what else I should be covering.
Le Voyage de Sahar features Brahem on oud, Francois Couturier on piano, and Jean-Louis Matinier on accordion. Here's what Jazz Times says:
One would think that the odd instrumentation alone would result in a bizarre sound, but really this band comes up with something very familiar. Oud or no, Brahem’s band plays soft-focus Euro cabaret-folk with a dose of French classical music thrown in. This is Brahem’s band and his music, but he seems like a guest player here. He blends with the delicately layered group sound on a seemingly endless stock of melancholy themes, and he takes restrained solo spots here and there as Matinier drones softly behind him. It’s actually Couturier’s keyboard impressionism that sets the tone. Even the longer pieces feel like vignettes—traveling themes, sad ballads or twee dances that set a single, evocative mood and then fade away like smoke from the end of a cigarette.
Here are some mp3 sample clips from the album:
And a full-length song from a previous album:
[mp3] Anouar Brahem: "Pique-Nique A Nagpur"
from the album Le Pas Du Chat Noir
So let's hear those comments, suggestions, recommendations...
