Anouar Brahem (b. 1957)
After The Last Sky
Anouar Brahem (oud)
Anja Lechner (cello)
Django Bates (piano)
Dave Holland (double bass)
rec. 2024, Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, Switzerland
ECM 2828 [59]

This is one of those recordings where classification is very difficult (and possibly pointless). It certainly isn’t classical in the sense of Mozart or Brahms, though in one piece, I felt I could have been listening to something by Philip Glass. While I’m not that well-versed in jazz, there are certainly elements that sound jazzy to me (and that’s where Presto has placed it). Because Anouar Brahem, the Tunisian linchpin of the project, plays the ancient Arab instrument, the oud, one might be tempted to describe it as world music, but what does that really mean – something that isn’t Western art or pop music? Given that the term crossover is used pejoratively more often than not, I won’t label it that either. So let’s just call it music, and perhaps what I describe below will tell you more than a simple term.

This is Anouar Brahem’s twelfth album for ECM, but the first I’ve heard. It was written and recorded in the shadow of the Gaza conflict, and is described in the booklet notes as “an unabashedly beautiful album, at once a sanctuary from, and a protest against, a world that has grown uglier, noisier and more violent”. While there is a consistent atmosphere across the eleven works – soothing and hypnotic – there is plenty of variation in the individual rhythms and colourings to maintain listening interest throughout.

Somewhat surprisingly, the first and last works do not include Brahem’s oud, and are soulful, classically inspired miniatures for piano and cello (the bass does provide a little rhythm in Vague, which has the unquestionable feel of Glass in poetic The Hours mode). The oud opens the title track, which has for me an almost tango-like feel, featuring some quite glorious cello playing by Anja Lechner. The expected Arabic sounds eventually arrive in Endless Wandering and following pieces, but perhaps the most striking example is The Sweet Oranges of Jaffa, which features a very intense and extended duet between oud and bass. When piano and cello join, the sound becomes more Western, the two worlds blend perfectly. The weakest piece is probably Never Forget where Brahem’s oud solo appears awkwardly from the smoky haze of cocktail lounge jazz. A very clear jazz sensibility also informs Dancing Under the Meteorites where bassist Dave Holland is given another opportunity to shine – it is one of the highlights of the album.

The playing of all four artists is superb, but I will highlight cellist Anja Lechner, whose contributions are exceptional. The sound quality is exemplary, while the booklet notes – an essay by author Adam Shatz – concentrate more on the politics of the Middle East, there is some commentary about the music. Those familiar with the ECM label will know that booklet notes are not the label’s strong point.

This was not familiar territory for me; I chose to review the album partly out of curiosity, but more from not seeing much among more “normal” releases that attracted my attention. I’m so glad I did. As someone who might have been Rossini, Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington said, there are really only two types of music: good and bad. There is no doubt that this recording belongs to the former.

David Barker

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Contents
Remembering Hind
After The Last Sky
Endless Wandering
The Eternal Olive Tree (Brahem/Holland)
Awake
In the Shade of Your Eyes
Dancing Under the Meteorites
The Sweet Oranges of Jaffa
Never Forget
Edward Said’s Reverie
Vague