Michel Sajrawy - Yathrib

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:33
Size: 132,9 MB
Art: Front

(0:27) 1. Intro
(4:55) 2. Yathrib
(5:38) 3. Al-Ein
(9:35) 4. In Memory of Om Kalthoum
(6:31) 5. Flying Carpet
(4:49) 6. Four Commandments
(9:17) 7. Father
(8:43) 8. Spiritual Oasis
(7:33) 9. Karm Al-Sheikh

The nine tracks presented on Yathrib not only attempt to bridge Arabic traditional composition forms, western jazz idioms and progressive rock, they also bridge the cultural differences (Christian, Muslim and Jewish) of the ten players involved, led by amazing guitarist Michel Sajrawy, who also composed each of the pieces. The core ensemble is a quartet of electric and acoustic guitars, drums, electric and string bass, and oud, but they are frequently joined by additional players on violin, viola, jarra, rabab, tabla, rek, and other percussion.

Every one of these cuts is very impressive, each in its own unique way, whether it involves one of the expanded lineups taking a jazz inspired flight, or the core quartet rocking out in some odd time signature with surprise changes at every hairpin turn. There are plenty of subtle microtonal flights herein as well, especially when the violinists come into play. Oud player Darwish Darwish is a flat-out monster on his instrument, though (being the newest member) he's only featured on a few of the pieces. Regardless of where the music goes, bassist Valery Lipets and amazing drummer Ameen Atrash are right there, providing a tasty framework and guiding the other players along to whatever may come next. Those looking for unusual kaleidoscopic fusion in a cross-cultural sense would do well to check this out; it's nothing short of awe-inspiring. By Peter Thelen
http://www.expose.org/index.php/articles/display/michel-sajrawy-yathrib.html

Yathrib

---

Michel Sajrawy - Soul Fingers

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:09
Size: 111,5 MB
Art: Front

( 4:10) 1. Hozam
( 6:19) 2. Chennai
( 9:03) 3. Hijaz
( 4:24) 4. Ajam
( 3:56) 5. Syncretic Beliefs
( 9:46) 6. Kord
(10:27) 7. In Memory of Om Kalthoum

Sajrawy's musical finesse is to reconcile the jazz of western culture with the „Maqamat“ of the Middle East, he has perfectly developed a whole new sound that mends both, all together his music takes you on a beautiful and divine journey.

Maqamat“ these are „oriental“ modes, rooted in ancient traditions, consisting of very special melodic lines based on quarter note steps an exceptional musical vocabulary. Beyond this, each of these „Maqam“ has its very own ethos attributed to it, associating various and very different moods. For example, in the ninth century Safi el-Din gave every hour of the day its own Maqam.

As a rule, oriental guitarists equip their instruments with additional frets in order to be able to create the quarter note steps necessary for “Maqamat”. Unfortunately, this inevitably leads to a lack of precision in the intonation:

The quarter note steps called for here are NOT exact quarter intervals in ascending succession they are a little bit higher accordingly, in descending succession they have to sound a little bit “darker”…and for this the musician alone is responsible.

Michel Sajrawy tackles this difficulty with his own unconventional solution: Having on the one hand tried out the limited suitability of additional frets, he nonetheless rejects the usual use of “fretless guitars”. They do offer complete freedom of intonation, but according to Sajrawy, can only be a compromise for the sound as well as the character. They just don’t do justice to the sound he really wants!

Sajrawy creates the desired quarter note steps by bending the strings. A very unusual, if not unique technique for interpreting “Maqamat”. It spices the original sound with an almost “bluesy” note, and does not require any additional alterations to the instrument. All that can be heard is the virtuoso result of the ingenious interaction of fingers and ear.

Guitarist and composer Michel Sajrawy is from Nazareth - Israel. At the age of nine he started taking guitar lessons. During the years 1990-93 he studied for and received a diploma in electronic engineering. In 1995 he moved to London, England, where he studied and completed a one-year diploma at the Musicians' Institute G.I.T. He began a three-year degree program in music composition at The London College of Music in 1996 under the instruction and assistance of Adam Gorb.. During the years 1999-2000 Michel furthered himself with the assistance of Adam Gorb and Nigel Clark to complete his masters degree in film and TV scoring.

In 2000 he returned to Nazareth and established his own business Dasam Studio (Dasam is a word in Arabic for ''rich food''). As a band leader, he released his debut album Yathrib (Ozella Music 2006) which marked his entrance into the vanguard of crossover artists who see themselves creating an uncompromising jazz sound between traditional and contemporary. In 2009 he released his second album, Writings On The Wall (Ozella Music) which marked a strong turning towards filigree west-eastern acoustic jazz. Among the jazz releases, the album became on the Top List "Best albums of 2009" of Freies Radio Stuttgart in Germany. In 2012 he released Arabop (Ozella Music / Dasam Studio) which was praised and criticized as a high octane, modern Arabic music that isn't like any world jazz or world fusion you've heard up till now.

Michel can easily join the ranks of seminal jazz guitarists. With his band, he played in different parts of the country, toured in Germany and played the Leipzig Jazz Festival (2006), played in Switzerland-Geneva (2007), Jerusalem Festival (2007) where he met and jammed with Nigel Kennedy. He played in the Netherlands (2008), the same year he played in New York (USA). Played the Jordan Festival (2009) and Tel Aviv Jazz Festival (2009). He played the International Oud Festival in Jerusalem (2012). In 2014 he was appointed as a guitar faculty for Spring Semester at Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music (SAM) in India where he shared the stage with Prasanna Ramaswamy, Tom Brislin (Yes/Meatloaf/Robert Plant/Spiraling), Phil Maturano and Steve Zerlin (Dennis Chambers, Carl Filipiak, Jack DeJohnette). In 2014 he performed with Yaron Herman in Paris (France). In 2015 he participated in Munich at the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2015 (Germany) and in 2016 he played at HevHet Festival in Kosice (Slovakia).

He worked with Abboud Abdel'All, Bashir Abdel'All, Ahmed Mukhtar, Samir Jubran, Manfred Leuchter, Mira Awad and Souad Massi. He composed music for several documentary films, arranged the music for theatre, various mini orchestral projects, produced radio jingles for the major brands in the country and he appears regularly as a musician on national TV shows. He collaborated on more than 20 albums worldwide. He is also a free lance guitarist and instructor.

Michel has been awarded the Wilfred Joseph Prize (1998-99 England), Best Title in Music (2002 Israel), the A. M. Qattan Foundation's Performing Arts Grant for the year (2007 West Bank) and Diploma from "Master-Jam Fest" in recognition of musical skill and devotion to jazz art (2012 Odessa - Ukraine).https://www.michelsajrawy.com/index.php/biography

Soul Fingers

---

Michel Sajrawy - Floating City

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:24
Size: 112,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:06) 1. Floating City
(6:31) 2. Bride of the Galilee
(6:20) 3. On the Road
(4:29) 4. Life Smiles Back
(4:32) 5. Absence
(4:30) 6. Zanjaran
(6:19) 7. Earth, Wind and Fire
(4:26) 8. I'm Not Sure
(4:06) 9. Sahra

In his ongoing quest to create a singular jazz alignment bridging traditional and contemporary music of his homeland, Israeli guitarist Michel Sajrawy explores the multicultural background of the city of Nazareth, in Floating City. Though Jerusalem gets all the headlines and global attention, Nazareth stands apart as a city epitomizing co-existence in a region ravaged by religious strife, and turmoil.

With his previous releases exposing a western slant on Arabic maqam music, this record has Sajrawy burrowing into his heritage, playing the music with a more exotic sensibility. In a production twist, he doubles on bass throughout, (save for one track) and displays virtuosity on that instrument as well. A Palestinian folkloric wedding ceremony is presented in the title track, with Arabic call and response setting up his blazing guitar work. Make no mistake, though he is a middle-eastern musician, Sajrawy is heavily influenced by British prog rock, American blues and jazz, and deftly brings that into the mix.

"Bride Of The Galilee," is a minor blues dedicated to Nazareth, his beloved city, on the banks of the sea. There is a suspended middle section where Wassim Odeh on the oud, and Suhail Nassar on qanoun, display an engaging interplay, before slowly coming back to the shore. The sensation of mysterious travel describes "On The Road," as images of caravans and camels come to mind. Sajrawy exhibits his jazz repertoire on "Life Smiles Back," keyboardist Loai Abu Sinni complementing the arrangement with soulful organ lines.

The somber melody on the melancholy ballad "Absence," conjures reflections of sitting by the sea, gazing into the past, missing someone from a lifetime ago. Sajrawy brings back his fusion mode, accompanied by Sinni on keys, and drummer Stas Zilberman, on "Zanjaran," and "Earth Wind & Fire," which are both more jazz inclined numbers. Guest bassist Sahar Anak is featured on the bluesy "I'm Not Sure," an stimulating composition that slips into a hard-bop piano segment, augmented by the oud in a true amalgamation of two worlds. They return to the Arabian maqam with "Sahra," this time joined by Wiasam Arram on darbuka, highlighted by Arabic chanting, in homage to the vast desert which dominates much of North Africa.

As with any consummate musician, Michel Sajrawy continues to evolve, not only on his instruments, but as a person seeking knowledge and wisdom. The music he refers to, and chooses to expand upon, hails from an ancient era, which has withstood the test of time, yet is pliable into contemporary forms. In this ode to Nazareth, he relies on the power of music to bring people together, an effort worth applauding. By James Nadal https://www.allaboutjazz.com/floating-city-michel-sajrawy-self-produced-review-by-james-nadal

Personnel: Michel Sajrawy: guitar, bass; Wassim Odeh: oud; Suhail Nassar: qanoun; Loai Abu Sinni: keyboards; Sahar Anak: bass (8); Wisam Arram: darbuka (9); Stas Zilberman: drums.

Floating City

---