Tawazon II: or lack of (Live in Tunis)
Tawazon II: or lack of (from Resonance/Dissonance)
Live at Mousiqa Wessalem festival in Tunis, 20 June 2012
Tamer Abu Ghazaleh – Fajrol Beed (Live in Beirut)
Tamer Abu Ghazaleh – Oud, Vocals
Shadi El Hosseini – Piano
Khaled Omran – Bass
Khyam Allami – Drums
Clarification – Blur: Parklive – Out of Time (Live)
Dear all,
Just for the sake of clarification, I am a British citizen of Iraqi descent, born in Damascus (Syria) and raised in London, not “Iranian born, Syrian raised” as Damon Albarn introduced me during the concert, which is also audible on the live recording.
Thank you!
Khyam
Blur: Parklive – Live at Hyde Park 2012 now available
Dear friends, I’m happy to tell you that live audio and video recordings of Blur’s concert at Hyde Park marking the close of the London 2012 Olympic games is being released, and include my guest appearance on “Out of Time”.
The release is titled “Parklive” and the live audio was made available for download on iTunes within 24-hours of the concert. Next week, a CD limited edition will be available and in November a 5-disc set including a DVD of the concert will be released.
Click here to access the album on iTunes. or visit the official Blur website here for more information.
Khyam Allami guesting with Blur at Hyde Park 2012 (photo by Amelle Chamberlain)
Tour with Blur and Olympics closing concert
Dear friends,
I’m very excited to tell you that I’ve been asked by Blur to join them on a short tour leading up to the sold out closing concert of the London 2012 Olympics in Hyde Park!
The tour dates are:
5 August - Wolverhampton Civic Hall, UK
6 August - Wolverhampton Civic Hall, UK
7 August - Plymouth Pavillions, UK
9 August - Smukfest, Skandeborg, Denmark
10 August - Way Out West Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden
12 August - London 2012 Olympics Closing Concert, Hyde Park, London, UK
More info soon!
Alif Ensemble – Tour Photos and Review
For those of you that weren’t following the Alif Ensemble on Twitter or Facebook, our residency and short UK tour were an awesome experience.
You can see more photos from our shows on the Alif Ensemble website and read an excellent review from The Double Negative here.
We’re currently planning more shows in Egypt and an album recording before the end of the year. Stay in touch or join the mailing list above for updates.
Resonance/Dissonance 1st birthday competition winner
Many congratulations to Bart Oonk from the UK for winning the Resonance/Dissonance 1st birthday competition.
And a million thanks to all of you who responded with such varied and inspiring answers! My apologise that I can’t respond to you all individually but i would literally be stuck to my computer for a week.
Looking forward to seeing some of you at the upcoming shows!
Happy Birthday Resonance/Dissonance & Competition
Dear friends,
One year ago today, Resonance/Dissonance was released into the world. By pure coincidence (or you could call it synchronicity), that very same day was also the 50th anniversary of swiss psychoanalyst C. G. Jung’s death.
The subconscious creation and conscious release of Resonance/Dissonance has been a significant milestone in my existence on this planet. Since it’s release, I have travelled, come to know and love many new people, made incredible new friends, and began realising dreams from what seemed like bygone ages. And Jung’s work was a major influence on Resonance/Dissonance and its concept, and all that has come since.
So, to celebrate this day… I’ve decided to hold a simple competition in honour of both anniversaries. The prize will be the following exclusive bundle:
1x signed “Resonance/Dissonance” CD+DVD
1x signed “World Routes: On the Road” 2CD (featuring Naghmat Tahrir recorded in Damascus with Syrian Qanun player Taoufik Meerkhan)
1x signed and very rare (only a few in existence) poster of my concert in Ramallah, Palestine on 9 Dec 2011.
The question:
What did C. G. Jung believe the goal of life to be?
The 7th person who answers correctly will be the winner. Answers via email only to info [at] khyamallami [dot] com.
Deadline is 23:59 Egyptian Time/EET, tonight.
And finally… Happy birthday Resonance/Dissonance and many thanks to you all for your continuous support!
Sound of Iraq project
Dear friends,
The Sound of Iraq (SOI) project is dedicated to creating and supporting a new Iraqi National Sound Archive (INSA) as part of the Iraqi National Library and Archives (INLA) in Baghdad, Iraq.
As some of you know, I have been working on the Sound of Iraq project or some time now, and I’m happy to let you know that the project website has now been launched and you can read all about it here in English, Arabic or Italian: www.soundofiraq.org
Please do spread the word to anyone you think may be interested and join us on Facebook here and Twitter here.
We are currently looking for Iraqi sound recordings and anything related to them, see how you can help here. We are also fundraising! Donations can be made online by clicking here.
Mousiqa Wassalem Festival – Tunis 14-20 June
Dear friends,
I am extremely happy to announce that I have been invited to perform at the first festival for independent Arabic music in Tunis. It is called Mousiqa Wassalem and will take place at the Museè de Carthage in Tunis between 14-20 June.
Not only will I be playing drums with Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, but I will also be performing Resonance/Dissonance on the closing night of the festival in support of the incredible Kamilya Jubran.
The full line up includes the following fantastic artists from across the Arab world and North Africa:
June 14: Badiaa Bouhrizi / Yasmine Hamdan, 15: Maryam & Zeid / Boomj, 16: Tamer Abu Ghazaleh / Neshez, 18: Barbaroots / Labess, 19: Mashrou’ Leila, 20: Khyam Allami / Kamilya Jubran.
For more information, check the festivals Facebook page here and the Facebook event here.
Alif Ensemble
Dear friends,
As some of you know, I am currently in Cairo working on an ambitious new project called the Alif Ensemble with two of the most inventive and talented Arabic musicians I know; Palestinian composer and vocalist Tamer Abu Ghazaleh and Egyptian electronica musician Maurice Louca, alongside a band of musicians from both traditional and contemporary Arabic music disciplines, including Ayman Mabrouk (Egypt) on Percussion, Khaled Yassine (Lebanon) on Percussion, Khaled Omran (Syria) on Bass and Yarob Smarait (Jordan) on Violin.
Although it is a long term project, it is being created for the BT River of Music festival, and will represent all the afore mentioned countries (plus Iraq) as part of London 2012. But before we bring it to London, we will be in residency at the Friary in Liverpool, hosted by the Liverpool Philharmonic and we will premier the project in Liverpool as part of the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival and then take it on a short tour of the UK before our final London show at the BT River of Music Festival.
15 July – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (part of Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival)
22 July – Asia Stage, Battersea Park, London (part of BT River of Music festival)
Tickets for the BT River of Music festival are free, but you must book in advance (£3 admin fee). The line-up on Sun 22 includes Zakir Hussain: Pulse of the World, Transglobal Underground: In Transit, Arun Ghosh, Van-Anh Vo and Kronos Quartet. You can book tickets online here.
In the meantime… follow us! facebook.com/alifensemble | twitter.com/alifensemble | www.alifensemble.com
Double Duo – Sold out show in Oxford and more…
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)
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)
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
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
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
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.
Follow us on Twitter here, Facebook here and join us at one of the dates below!
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
‘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
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