Aka Moon - Aka Balkan Moon / AlefBa (Double Live) (2015) [Hi-Res]

Eleven musicians with musical roots from Syria, Egypte, Libanon, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Irak, Palestine, Guadeloupe and France, each of them considered as masters and virtuoso in their musical traditions, unite in this musical project inspired by the poetry of Arabic language. A unique unity that evokes a strong message of peace via musical dialogue. Both projects were created in the frame of the resideny at the Royaumont Foundation in close collaboration with KVS, BOZAR and Festival d’Aix en Provence.

Aka Balkan Moon and AlefBa are two projects, the core of which is Aka Moon, that essential jazz trio (Fabrizio Cassol on the saxophone, Stéphane Galland on the drums and Michel Hatzigeorgiou on the bass). Their refreshing approach to jazz and to ethnic musical genres such as funk and rock gives the trio a highly distinctive sound. In their richly filled career they have worked with dozens of artists from different backgrounds in numerous projects.

The Aka Balkan Moon project draws its inspiration from the gypsy tradition of the Balkans. Assisted by violinist Tcha Limberger and Italian pianist Fabian Fiorini, the trio went in search of musical fellow travellers and found four virtuoso Bulgarian musicians. The result is a unique blend between contemporary jazz and traditional folk music.

The AlefBa project brings together 12 artists, half of them coming from Europe, the other half from Syria, Egypt and Lebanon, in order to create what could be called a Musical and Poetic Suite in Arabic Languages. But AlefBa is not solely a Mediterranean project; it also brings together ‘universal, unidentifiable souls’ at the crossroads of several origins, between gipsy, Transylvanian and Balkan cultures.

“AlefBa is a rare musical journey and a successful union of jazz with traditional oriental sounds. Incontournable!”

Fabrizio Cassol, artistic direction & saxophone
Michel Hatzigeorgiou, bass
Stéphane Galland, drums
Guest musicians:
Tcha Limberger, vocals, violin
Magic Malik, flute, voice
Emmanuel Baily, guitar
Mustapha Saïd, oud, vocals
Khaled Aljarmani, oud, vocals
Misirli Ahmet, darbouka
Sheikh Ehab Younes, vocals
Amir El Safar, trumpet, santur, voice

Tracklist:

1.01 | Aka Moon - Baba (Live)
1.02 | Aka Moon - Dali (Live)
1.03 | Aka Moon - Bulgarian Study (Live)
1.04 | Aka Moon - Okio (Live)
1.05 | Aka Moon - Mome Kalino (Live)
1.06 | Aka Moon - A.K.A Stésté (Live)
1.07 | Aka Moon - Upon Mi-Si-La (Live)

2.01 | Aka Moon, Tcha Limberger, Khaled Alhafez, Mustafa Said, Magic Malik, Amir ElSaffar - Monkey (Live)
2.02 | Aka Moon, Khaled Aljaramani, Khaled Alhafez - Brume du matin (Live)
2.03 | Aka Moon, Sheikh Ehab Younes, Mustafa Said - Hadi (Live)
2.04 | Aka Moon - Sinaï (Live)
2.05 | Aka Moon, Khaled Alhafez, Khaled Aljaramani - Comedia (Live)
2.06 | Aka Moon - Divina Comedia (Live)