Anouar Brahem

CD version. Barzakh was the ECM debut of the Tunisian oud player and composer Anouar Brahem, recorded in 1990 and released the following spring. It opened a relationship with the label that has lasted more than three decades. On release it drew the attention of press and listeners for its grace and authority. Brahem's improvisation is rooted in Arab modal tradition, but the album also shows his gift for writing clear, memorable themes.

Born in Tunis in 1957, Brahem began studying the oud at the National Conservatory at the age of ten and then studied with the master Ali Sriti. He spent four years in Paris from 1981, writing for Tunisian film and theatre, then returned home. Here he leads a trio with Béchir Selmi, the violinist of the Musical Ensemble of Tunis, and the percussionist Lassad Hosni on frame drum and darbouka. The music was recorded in September 1990 at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, with Jan Erik Kongshaug engineering and Manfred Eicher producing.

The thirteen pieces move between solo oud, duo and trio. The opening Raf Raf is a short, quick solo that sets out Brahem's touch and rhythmic drive. The eleven-minute title track, written with Selmi, brings in the violin, which traces long lines above the oud. In Parfum de Gitane the three players come together most fully, framed by two short percussion features composed by Hosni, Souga and Bou Naouara. The later solo pieces, among them La Nuit des Yeux and Le Belvédère Assiégé, return to the intimacy of the opening.

In The Wire, Brian Morton heard music "uncompromisingly improvisational, a meeting place for all cultures and times". Michael Tucker of Jazz Journal praised a virtuoso "as sensitive to tonal quality and poetic nuances of space" as to the long pathways of North African modality. Hosni's frame drum and darbouka went on to shape later Brahem albums such as Conte de l'incroyable amour (1991) and Astrakan Café (2000).

This CD carries the original catalogue number ECM 1432. The album was first released in April 1991, with liner notes by Steve Lake and calligraphy by Mohammed Abd Al Kader.