Sakina Abdou Solo // The Handover

15:00

Sakina Abdou Solo: “Goodbye Ground”

(FR)

German premiere

Sometimes it takes the most curious and versatile musicians longer to gain notice because they’re tough to pin down to this sound or that. The French saxophonist Sakina Abdou, who performed memorably at Jazzfest Berlin 2023 as a member of Eve Risser’s Red Desert Orchestra, offers a case in point. As her playing with Risser made clear, she’s a post-bop mastery with a lyric grace and rhythmic ferocity, but she excels in many other areas, whether chamber-like free improvisation with pianist Marta Warelis and percussionist Toma Gouband or interpreting the music of American experimentalist Michael Pisaro-Liu as a member of the superb Lyon new music ensemble Muzzix.

Abdou has also developed a gripping solo practice for alto and tenor saxophones. As heard on the excellent 2022 album “Goodbye Ground”, Abdou shoves aside any walls between an agile post-cool alto lilt that taps into the Lennie Tristano school and harmonically ferocious tenor sax overblowing, where her instrument envelops listeners with a dense, all-enveloping din. Solo performance is a crucial part of Abdou’s art, an idiosyncratic, compelling concentration of her broad interests as a musician.

Line-up

Sakina Abdou – tenor and alto saxophone

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15:20

The Handover

(BE/NO, EG)

Numerous elements distinguish jazz from other styles, whether it is rhythmic character or the complex harmonic framework, but its most defining element is improvisation, a practice that can be found in every culture. Improvisation is one of the binding agents connecting Oslo-based Belgian jazz keyboardist Jonas Cambien with Egyptian violinist Ayman Asfour and oudist Aly Eissa, two remarkable musicians trained in classical Arabic music who have both gone well beyond native traditions. Asfour has worked closely with Berlin-based composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Maurice Louca and in a more traditional context with singer Natik Awayez, while Eissa has emerged as a composer of great range and versatility whose 2023 pop fusion album “Gouda Bar” hints at his depth. Cambien has been a regular visitor to Cairo, where he met Asfour and Eissa, leading to the formation of The Handover.

The trio’s performances are devoted to an Eissa composition also titled “The Handover”. The two-part piece collides the measured elegance of classical Arabic music with the dance-driven street pop called shaabi. The trio subverts both forms in its ornate performances, which are always different from night to night. Despite the lack of percussion the trio kicks up serious dust with the probing violin, slashing oud lines and Cambien’s mix of Ace Tone organ and microtonal synthesizer, simultaneously celebrating and reinventing tradition.

Line-up

Aly Eissa – oud 
Ayman Asfour – violin
Jonas Cambien – keyboards