Jan Garbarek, Anouar Brahem, Shaukat Hussain

LP version. Madar is the only recording made together by the Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, the Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem and the Pakistani tabla player Ustad Shaukat Hussain. Recorded in Oslo in August 1992 and released by ECM in 1994, it sets a Norwegian folk melody, Brahem's Arabic modal writing and North Indian rhythm side by side. The pieces are long and unhurried, built on improvisation in solo, duo and trio.

Garbarek had been intrigued by Barzakh, Brahem's first album for ECM, and wanted to work with him. A first trial session showed an immediate understanding between the two. Producer Manfred Eicher then suggested adding Hussain, who had played tabla on Garbarek's Ragas and Sagas with the Pakistani singer Ustad Fateh Ali Khan. Brahem has recalled the producer "saying 'Let's try it and see what happens.'" The trio met at Rainbow Studio with Jan Erik Kongshaug as engineer. Garbarek plays tenor and soprano saxophone, and Hussain joins only on certain tracks, leaving room for duets between sax and oud.

The record opens with Sull Lull, a traditional Norwegian melody arranged by Garbarek and stretched to almost seventeen minutes. Oud and tabla carry it into a sound world it had never had before. The title piece, written by Brahem and Garbarek together, is a patient exchange of more than eleven minutes. Jaw is Hussain's own composition and his solo feature, eight minutes in which the tabla leads. The album closes with a short anonymous Epilogue.

Reviewers heard a real three-way conversation rather than a fusion exercise. In JazzTimes (1994) Josef Woodard wrote that "Norway and The Middle East sound like neighbors with a common cause". The Wire called it one of Garbarek's most interesting albums and added that "seldom do producer and artist share the same vision so closely." In Die Weltwoche Peter Rüedi described an almost enlightened dialogue between continents, based on mutual respect.

Double LP edition of ECM 1515, first released on CD in 1994 and now on vinyl for the first time. It is cut from the original masters and housed in a tip-on gatefold with the original artwork. It belongs to Luminessence, ECM's vinyl series launched in 2023 to reissue titles from the label's back catalogue in high-quality editions.