Khyam Allami - 'Ud and Elsewhere

Double Duo – Sold out show in Oxford and more…

Khyam — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:32:25 +0000

Dear friends,

Many thanks to all of you who have come to see the Double Duo shows around the UK so far. We’re having a great time on tour (as you can see from the pictures on Facebook) including a sold out show in Oxford last night at the North Wall Arts Centre.

The tour continues until the end of the month, hope to see some of you there!

21 Apr - Lighthouse, Poole
22 Apr - The Stables, Milton Keynes
25 Apr - Pontardawe Arts Centre, Pontardawe
26 Apr - Band on the Wall, Manchester
28 Apr - The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead
29 Apr - Union Chapel, London

www.doubleduo.net
www.makingtrackslive.org.uk

Double Duo – Update (Sat 14 April 2012)

Khyam — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 11:34:34 +0000

Dear friends,

We’re happy to tell you that Ahmad Al-Khatib’s visa was issued yesterday and he will be joining us in the UK on Monday for the rest of the tour! Many thanks to everyone for their kind messages and to those who helped resolve the situation.

Khyam, Ahmad, Youssef, Andrea & the Making Tracks team.

Double Duo – Important Update (Thu 12 April 2012)

Khyam — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:58:29 +0000

Dear all,

Due to some very unfortunate circumstances beyond our control, we’ve had to start the Double Duo tour as a trio. Ahmad Al-Khatib has still not been granted a visa to enter the UK. We are working hard to try and resolve the problem and hope to have him with us as soon as possible. Needless to say, we are angry and frustrated.

We have decided to go ahead with the tour as a trio and will be presenting a slightly revised programme.

Hopefully we will have a more positive update for you soon.

Khyam, Youssef, Ahmad, Andrea & the Making Tracks team

Songlines Music Awards 2012 – Nomination

Khyam — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:19:28 +0000

Dear friends,
Thanks to your votes, I am delighted to announce that Resonance/Dissonance and I have been nominated for the Songlines Music Awards 2012 in the Newcomer category alongside Bombino (for the album Agadez), Fatoumata Diawara (for the album Fatou) and Trio Tekke (for the album Samas).

The top four nominees in each category were selected by a public vote on the Songlines website. The winners of each award will be selected by a Songlines jury and will be announced in Songlines Magazine #84 (June 2012), published on April 27.

A compilation album Songlines Music Awards 2012 featuring all 16 nominated artists will be released on CD and download on March 19. It will include ‘An Alif/An Apex’ taken from Resonance/Dissonance. You can order it from Amazon here.

Aside from profile pieces on all the nominees in the current issue of Songlines, the magazine will be running an extended awards feature in their podcast and updating the Songlines Music Awards iPhone app with audio excerpts and reviews of this year’s nominees.

BBC Radio 3 will be broadcasting a ‘World on 3’ programme focusing on the awards and the nominees on Friday March 16th.

I never expected a work such as Resonance/Dissonance to have so much support, so a sincere thanks to all of you who have listened so intently and supported it so much. It really means a lot!

In the meantime, there are many (many) exciting things brewing in the background. So sign up to the mailing list (above) and join me on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

Limited signed copies of Resonance/Dissonance

Khyam — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:22:03 +0000

Dear friends,

The 2nd pressing of the Resonance/Dissonance CD+DVD has arrived. Limited signed copies are now available exclusively from Nawa Recordings.

Double Duo – Making Tracks UK Tour

Khyam — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:32:05 +0000

Dear friends,

If you don’t know already, the Double Duo project with Ahmad Al-Khatib, Youssef Hbeisch and Andrea Piccioni will be touring the UK in April. Tickets are now on sale.

12 Apr - mac, Birmingham
13 Apr - Colston Hall, Bristol
14 Apr - NCEM, York
18 Apr - South Street, Reading
19 Apr - The Junction, Cambridge
20 Apr - North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford
21 Apr - Lighthouse, Poole
22 Apr - The Stables, Milton Keynes
25 Apr - Pontardawe Arts Centre, Pontardawe
26 Apr - Band on the Wall, Manchester
28 Apr - The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead
29 Apr - Union Chapel, London

www.doubleduo.net
www.makingtrackslive.org.uk

World Routes: On the Road

Khyam — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:41:13 +0000

‘World Routes: On The Road’, a new compilation album by BBC Radio 3 was released this week. It is a 2CD set of previously unreleased material recorded by the programme on location over the last 10 years.

Alongside recordings by incredible artists such as Toumani Diabate, Alim Qasimov and the Gundecha Brothers, it features a special duo performance of ‘Naghmat Tahrir’ by Khyam Allami with Syrian Qanun player Taoufik Meerkhan.

This unique version was recorded live in Damascus in June 2010 during Khyam’s trip across the Arab world as part of the BBC R3 World Routes Academy 2010. Hope you enjoy it!

For full track listing from the album and more information, click here.

Click here to order a copy from Amazon, or here to download from iTunes.

Happy New Year!

Khyam — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:01:15 +0000

Concert in Ramallah

Khyam — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:49:30 +0000

Dear friends,

I’m very happy to announce that I will be performing Resonance/Dissonance in Ramallah on Dec 9th 2011. The concert is being organised by Eka3 and marks the launch of their activities in Palestine. There will hopefully also be another concert in Amman shortly after, more information as soon as it’s confirmed.

You can read an interview (in Arabic) about Resonance/Dissonance and the Ramallah concert published in Al-Ayyam newspaper here. Facebook event for the concert is here.

Egypt concerts update and thanks!

Khyam — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:59:39 +0000

El-Kabina - Alexandria 19 Nov 2011

As most of you know, I had a few concerts in Egypt earlier this month and despite the continuing post-revolution troubles we managed two concerts out of three.

The first two concerts at El-Geneina theatre in Cairo and El-Kabina in Alexandria went extremely well, and I just wanted to thank all those who attended despite the growing unrest and violence around them.

We had to cancel the third concert planned for 20 Nov at Sawi Culture Wheel in Cairo, but it was a good thing. No matter how much I love art and music and believe in it’s power, it would have been very difficult to present a work like Resonance/Dissonance whilst people were under attack in central Cairo. I hope to re-schedule the Sawi Culture Wheel concert as soon as possible.

Many thanks to my dear friends from Eka3 and Gudran for organising both shows and most of all, to those who attended the concerts and listened so attentively.

See you all again very soon!