Contre-Jour

«ASWAT», the trio album, & «TAFASSIL», the version for oud and symphony orchestra, are the two facets of my new musical work, which I will present in three versions: 

• as an oud and percussion trio; 

• the trio accompanied by a string quintet or a chamber ensemble; 

• or invited by a symphony orchestra. 

The string quintet, chamber orchestra or symphony orchestra will be local ensembles, chosen by you, to whom we will, of course, send the scores 

This project is a desire, a wish and a dream that I have had for years. As a child, I was already fascinated by the orchestras I heard in films: the violins, the brass, the harmony... 

This is the result of a fundamental quest for «musical ecstasy», the «tarab» - that feeling of astonishment, that aesthetic emotion, between bliss, delight and ecstasy that one feels while listening to music. My writing as an ‘oriental’ musician seeks to capture the challenges of this ‘tarab’, nurtured by the powerful oral tradition. 

For years, my oud and I have thought about integrating the symphony orchestra into our artistic process. For years, my oud and I have been thinking about integrating the symphony orchestra into our artistic process. For years, we have been overwhelmed by the force of life, travel, tours, concerts, recordings... 

Today, the project is born, after more than two years of continuous work, reflection, writing, rewriting, recording, experimentation and permanent research of different aesthetic formulas. 

While I was writing these works, I tried to observe my daily life and to transcribe its most (in)significant details: The dawn, the morning people, the sounds and smells of everyday life, the mothers preparing their children before school, the rain becoming scarce… 

I wanted to highlight the importance of these multiple «details» («Tafassil») as opposed to the «whole», to underline how unfair, even dangerous, it is to neglect their importance under the pretext of the eternal search for the priority of the «global».  

In the isolation imposed by the confinement, surprised by the cruelty of the psychological devastation caused by this tiny and powerful virus, I took the time necessary to redefine my priorities, to seek inner peace. It was a difficult but essential exercise for me to find and embody silence, simplicity, fragility, strength, tenderness, meditation, beauty... 

Everything that seemed important and necessary to understand the process of our belonging to this new life. 

In fact, «ASWAT» and «TAFASSIL» are an inner musical journey and a metaphorical victory over the vicissitudes of everyday life. 

Throughout my career, I have always considered music as a mysterious clarity that gently or suddenly seeps into the heartbeat, a delicious tension and a permanent discovery of the joy of time and dreams. 

This is how I love music, or rather how I perceive it: necessary, intuitive, joyful - sometimes painful -, contemplative and respectful of the listener’s trust. 

Driss El Maloumi