‘Breathtaking Swiss landscapes, Polish sweet melancholy and Tunisian street frenzy.’
Album: Fertile Paradoxes
Artist: Amine & Hamza, The Band Beyond Borders
CD #: EUCD2704
Label: ARC Music
Release: 31st March 2017
Media: Angie Lemon: angie@arcmusic.co.uk
Website: www.aminehamza.com
‘Fertile Paradoxes’ is the new studio album from two Tunisian brothers, Amine & Hamza M'raihi. Both are masters of the oud and kanun respectively, the two major instruments of Arabic classical music. ‘Fertile Paradoxes’ is steeped in global rhythms spanning from their homeland in Tunisia to Switzerland where Amine and Hamza currently reside, tour and record. ‘Fertile Paradoxes’ is a classy exploration into time-honoured traditions with new dimensions, across eight tracks of carefully selected dynamic collaborations. The album runs close to seventy minutes of airplay; the shortest track is ‘Letter to God’ at 7:31 and the longest being ‘Spleen’ at 10.49
If a ‘paradox’ is a person or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities, then be prepared for some twists and turns on ‘Fertile Paradoxes’. Kanun meets saxophone,cajón meets cello and musical borders are thrown to an adventurous wind: the south Indian kanjira frame drum and percussive Nigerian water jug ‘udu’ blend in with accordion and The Band Beyond Borders are joined by a full chamber orchestra on ‘Spleen’ and the sparky ‘Lullaby for Leo’.
As Amine & Hamza say in their own words: “Fertile Paradoxes is a diary of our past 6 years… beautiful friendships from all over the world, celebrating humanity through music… Fertile Paradoxes is who we are, a blend of breathtaking Swiss landscapes, Polish sweet melancholy and Tunisian street frenzy.”
‘Fertile Paradoxes’ explores new musical molds; traditional middle-eastern instruments interweave with a percussive medley of jazz, classical western music, flamenco, Indian and Persian traditions, and is in fact a mighty collaboration featuring world music icons. ‘Spleen’ and ‘Café Tunis’ feature the rich vocals sounds of award-winning vocalist Kaushiki Chakraborty, daughter of one of India’s greatest vocal legends, Ajoy Chakraborty. The name ‘Chakraborty’ interestingly enough means ‘ruler of the country’. French Cellist Vincent Ségal performs on ‘Spleen’ and ‘Letter to God’. ‘Brahim’s Dream’ features none-other than legendary French accordionist Vincent Peirani. While bassists Lukasz Adamczyk and Jean-Pierre Schaller bring elements of jazz into the ‘Fertile Paradoxes’ mix.
Even the recording locations of ‘Fertile Paradoxes’ stretch the globe from Poland, Switzerland, France, India to the USA. Amine and Hamza continue to perform in many prestigious scenes all over the world, including the Arab World Institute in Paris, the BBC, the Medina Theatre in Beirut and the Cairo Opera house. From fertile paradoxes, great things grow. ‘Fertile Paradoxes’ is released globally through ARC Music on 31st March 2017.
Album Information: Fertile Paradoxes by Amine & Hamza
“Fertile Paradoxes” owns the evident and natural qualities which are the hallmarks of an authentically inspired work. A beautiful success!” – Anouar Brahem
Track Listing:
- Spleen - 10:49
- Love is an Eternal Journey - 8:44
- Brahim’s Dream - 9:10
- Lullaby for Leo - 8:20
- The Quest - 7:45
- Café Tunis - 9:48
- Letter to God - 7:31
- Frozen Rivers - 7:48
Total playing time: 70:14 min.
Featured Musicians ‘Fertile Paradoxes’
Amine Mraihi: oud
Hamza Mraihi: kanun
Baiju Bhatt: violin
Valentin Conus: sax, soprano & tenor
Prabhu Edouard: tabla, percussion (udu, tambourine, kanjira, shakers, clapping)
Fredrik Gille: percussion (djembe, cajon, kanjira, req, bendir, def, cymbals, shakers, triangle, clapping)
Special Guests:
Vincent Peirani: accordion on track 3
Vincent Ségal: cello on tracks 1,7
Kaushiki Chakraborty: vocals on tracks 1,6
Ismail Lumanovski: clarinet on track 3,6
Lukasz Adamczyk: bass guitar on tracks 1,5,6
Jean-Pierre Schaller: bass guitar on track 3
Maxence Sibille: drums on track 3
Kuba Mietla: accordion on tracks 6,7
Discography:
- 2003: Ala Mar Azaman
- 2004: Ila Hounak
- 2005: Asfar
- 2006: Ilayha wa Ilayh
- 2007: Mani Nassi
- 2009: Tunifunk
- 2010: Perpetual Motion
For more information please contact Angie Lemon: angie@arcmusic.co.uk | www.arcmusic.co.uk|ARC Music Productions International | PO Box 111 | East Grinstead | West Sussex | RH19 4FZ | United Kingdom