Anouar Brahem - Le Pas Du Chat Noir (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

Another Brilliant Work from Anouar Brahem

D. Levy | New York, NY USA | 09/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anouar Brahem is a great artist. He manages to sound modern and archaic at the same time. His most recent previous album, Astrakan Cafe, evokes a North Africa, with his oud accompanied by clarinet and percussion. My favorite of his previous albums, Compte de l'Incroyable Amour, is a work of great spirituality and heart.This album, Le Pas Du Chat Noir, with accompaniment from a piano and clarinet, sounds like sophisticated Parisian parlor art song, but of what era? Debussy's? Piaf's? Ravel's? Brahem's!Typically perfect ECM audio engineering allows the listener to fall deeply into this music's thrall. Highly recommended."

An amazing mix of styles

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 09/20/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Oudist Brahem branches out to embrace a mellow form of Parisian street music, improvising along with pianist Francois Couturier and accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier. Although the trio often echoes the Argentine tangos of Astor Piazolla, they shy away from the forceful grandeur of the style, mining a mellower, slightly Shadowfax-y, New Age-ish sound. Muted strains of Arabic classical, Argentine tango and Parisian musette mix with equal ease, and while the overall sound may be a bit goopy, it's also quite engaging. Relaxing, amorphous music with considerable richness and depth."

Anouar Brahem's Mastery Continues

Scott MacFaden | Rockland, MA United States | 12/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anouar Brahem again ushers listeners into a sublime world that evidences a subdued, covert, but undeniable intensity of feeling and beauty. Forget all the allusions you may read here and elsewhere to other musics and eras, as so many fall into the comparison trap. Do not compare this work with French art music, Astor Piazzola, a pepperoni pizza, or anything else: accept and embrace this music on its own significant terms, and you will be abundantly rewarded. It stands entirely on its own!Anouar Brahem's melodies are beyond poignant, he elicits astoundingly empathetic contributions from his two colleagues on piano and accordion, respectively, and his own playing is always in the service of his overall conception. I repeat, do not let others demean this great work by insinuating it is relaxing, or good for meditation, or otherwise exists as musical wallpaper. As a famous classical pianist once remarked when asked what was harder to play, the fast pieces or the slow ones, he said (and I am paraphrasing) the fast tempos are easy; it is the slow ones that cause me difficulty. Miles Davis said much the same thing about ballads-he felt them so deeply that he could no longer play them. Thanks to ECM for giving Anouar Brahem a global audience, and to the man himself for incomparable music. I can't wait for his next project............"

MUSIQUE SANS FRONTIÈRES

Larry L. Looney | Austin, Texas USA | 03/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anouar Brahem is an artist of incredible vision and talent - each one of his releases is a sonic and cultural delight, taking the listener on a journey filled with wonder and beauty. This, his latest recording, is one of his best. In the notes to the CD, Brahem is quotes as saying that after recording his THIMAR album, the resulting physical and artistic exhaustion caused him to set aside his oud for a while - something he said he had never before done. Turning his musical ideas and expression to his piano, Brahem created the pieces recorded here. When he took these ideas into the studio (and taking his oud along with him), along with colleagues François Coutourier (piano) and Jean-Louis Matinier (accordion), his ideas were brought beautifully to fruition. The result is one of the most beautiful recordings I have ever heard.The pieces having been written on the piano, that instrument takes the lead - but the oud and the accordion have a lot to say as well, and their voices blend effortlessly with that of the keyboard. Brahem is a master not only at composition and performing, but, in his arrangements, and in the very choosing of his accompanying musicians, shows a brilliance that is breathtaking. Through the various groupings that he has assembled on his recordings, he endows his music with a strength and scope that is stunning - it takes on a life of its own, and grows far beyond whatever boundaries smaller minds might employ to contain it by definition.This is `world music' in the deepest, spiritual sense of the phrase - political frontiers are vanquished and erased, while cultures are honored, respected and mingled. Few other contemporary artists come to mind who continually create on this level - Stephan Micus is one. Brahem's last album, ASTRAKAN CAFÉ, alluded to this meeting and convergence of styles - with each successive release, Brahem furthers his cause (and that of the open-minded, eager-to-explore listener). Each and every track included here is an absolute gem. Don't approach this album with the expectations of hearing another outing in which Brahem `simply' dazzles the listener with the beauty and technique of his oud playing (and he is a master of that instrument, let there be no doubt of that...) - approach it instead with an open mind and ear, and marvel at the journey on which you are to be led.This is an absolutely essential recording."

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