Co-production Flamenco Biënnale Nederland & Fondation Royaumont (FA)

Luminescencia

2019

2019

The Iraqi-American musician Amir ElSaffar effortlessly fuses the mysticism of the Iraqi maqam tradition with flamenco and modern jazz. He has already performed with jazz greats like Cecil Taylor, Vijay Iyer, Mark Dresser and Marc Ribot. Together with exponents of the up-and-coming flamenco vanguard like singer Gema Caballero, dancer Vanesa Aibar and percussionist Pablo Martín Jones, trumpeter Amir ElSaffar uses elegant, melodic arabesques to take the flamenco tradition back to the source of the old Arabic maqams.

Amir ElSaffar is uniquely poised to reconcile jazz and Arabic music without doing either harm […] ElSaffar’s music is the result of engagement across the board, presented with clarity and eloquence.

The Wire