Earlier
Works
Since
there are so many recordsings of Rabih Abou-Khalil, it was impossible
to review them seperately. We have chosen to divide them to two broad
categories as "Earlier Works" and "Later Works." The album covers above
are lined up in chronological order: Nafas, Between Dusk and Dawn, Bukra,
Al-Jadida, Blue Camel
"The
musician and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil grew up in the cosmopolitan climate
of Beirut in the sixties and seventies. As a child he learned to play
the oud, the Arab short-neck lute which in the Arab world is the instrument
of composition, enjoying the same overall popularity as do guitar and
piano together in ours. The civil war in Lebanon forced Abou-Khalil to
leave his country in 1978. He first studied classical flute at the Academy
of Music in Munich under Professor Walther Theurer. This analytical preoccupation
with the European classical tradition equipped him to also appreciate
traditional Arab music from a theoretical perspective, opening his eyes
to the possibility of operating simultaneously within divergent systems
of musical coordinates. Yet while Abou-Khalil pursues his own approach,
not clinging to established patterns of musical form, content and purpose,
the aesthetic contours of his work nonetheless reflect Arab musical culture."
(from a review on Enja Records' web-site)
Information provided by: http://www.kairarecords.com