Al Andaluz Project
Gig Seeker Pro

Al Andaluz Project

| INDIE

| INDIE
Band World Folk

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Celebrating a fertile history of tolerance and multicultural exchange"

SYNCHRONICITY is in the air, it seems, I return home from a few days in Seville, where Moorish and Christian architecture rub shoulders, to find that the band Al Andaluz, named after the old Moorish kingdom that became known as Andalucia, is making its UK live debut on BBC Radio Scotland next Tuesday. Performing on Mary Ann Kennedy's Global Gathering, Al Andaluz can be regarded as a musical analogue of the intriguing collision and intermingling of Moorish Islamic and Spanish Christian architectural styles which you find, for instance in Seville's.


Real Alcázar, the magnificent complex of palaces and gardens which sports the intricately arched and fretted plaster and tile work of 12th-century Moorish rulers and the later gothic edifices of Christian monarchs, as well as hybrid Mudéjar craftsmanship.

Al Andaluz – the band, that is, rather than the Spanish province – looks beyond the conflicts and expulsions the 15th-century reconquista to an earlier time of cultural and scholalry cross-fertilisation and relative tolerance shown by the Moorish rulers t Spain's Christian and Jewish cultures. Thus its music delves into a rich musical heritage of Christian, Sephardic Jewish and Arabic cultures, to produce a rhythmically compelling and richly textured swirl of flutes, jurdy-gurdies, zithers and percussion behind three superb females singers, Mara Aranda, Imam Al Kandoussi and Sigi Hausen.

Al Andaluz aren't the first musicians to investigate the Moorish links with Spanish music – there's the more robustly contemporary approach of Radio Tarifa, for instance, or guitarist Juan Martin's explorations of Arabic input into the guitar and melismatic vocal styles of flamenco. “A lot of artists have trodden that path in different ways, looking at both sides of the Mediterranean, as it were, “agrees Mary Ann Kennedy, Gaelic singer, harpist and presenter of both Global Gathering and Radio 3's World On 3, for which Al Andaluz is also recording a session. “Al Andaluz's music is really uplifting, and every bit as vibrant as the likes fo Radio Tarifa, but they go further back, coming closer to the DNA of the thing.”

As a Gael, Kennedy sees this musical migration between Spain and North Africa as not unlike the historic seagoing links between the Gaeldoms of Scotland and Ireland, “at least in terms of trying to understand the movement of people and of cultures. People tend to think of the Mediterranean as the break between one continent and another, but in reality water, and any kind of seaway, was historically a highway.”

The band is something of a cross-cultural collaboration in itself, comprising members of two already established European early music ensembles, the Valencia-based Sephardic specialists L'Ham de Foc and Michael Popp's Estampie from Munich.

- The Scotsman


"Medieval Music with a stiff upper lip"

The giveaway is in the title. If you slip the word “project” into your name, you are probably in earnest. As five of the performers on this album of traditional medieval lyrics studied with the godfather of the Austrian early music movement, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, they are not joking. The three vocalists come from three separate medieval traditions – Spanish, Moroccan and German – and they blend like oil and water. The fact that Sigrid Hausen and Ernst Schwindl co-founded the electro-medieval group Qntal is even less encouraging. The result is stodgy, rhythmically static and stragely dated. It reminds me of the discs of Western European music of the early Middle Ages issued in the 1970s, when performance practics was in its infancy. The four-square metre clumps along with harp, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, harmonium and portative organ combining to make the music's texture even more indegestible. If you are in search of scholarly integrity and austere refinement, Greogrio Paniagua is your man. If you want something more edgy and invigorating, try the brilliant Balkan ensemble Shira u'tfila. If only Harnoncourt had imparted a sense of fun along with his scholarship. - Songlines


"Celebrating a fertile history of tolerance and multicultural exchange"

SYNCHRONICITY is in the air, it seems, I return home from a few days in Seville, where Moorish and Christian architecture rub shoulders, to find that the band Al Andaluz, named after the old Moorish kingdom that became known as Andalucia, is making its UK live debut on BBC Radio Scotland next Tuesday. Performing on Mary Ann Kennedy's Global Gathering, Al Andaluz can be regarded as a musical analogue of the intriguing collision and intermingling of Moorish Islamic and Spanish Christian architectural styles which you find, for instance in Seville's.


Real Alcázar, the magnificent complex of palaces and gardens which sports the intricately arched and fretted plaster and tile work of 12th-century Moorish rulers and the later gothic edifices of Christian monarchs, as well as hybrid Mudéjar craftsmanship.

Al Andaluz – the band, that is, rather than the Spanish province – looks beyond the conflicts and expulsions the 15th-century reconquista to an earlier time of cultural and scholalry cross-fertilisation and relative tolerance shown by the Moorish rulers t Spain's Christian and Jewish cultures. Thus its music delves into a rich musical heritage of Christian, Sephardic Jewish and Arabic cultures, to produce a rhythmically compelling and richly textured swirl of flutes, jurdy-gurdies, zithers and percussion behind three superb females singers, Mara Aranda, Imam Al Kandoussi and Sigi Hausen.

Al Andaluz aren't the first musicians to investigate the Moorish links with Spanish music – there's the more robustly contemporary approach of Radio Tarifa, for instance, or guitarist Juan Martin's explorations of Arabic input into the guitar and melismatic vocal styles of flamenco. “A lot of artists have trodden that path in different ways, looking at both sides of the Mediterranean, as it were, “agrees Mary Ann Kennedy, Gaelic singer, harpist and presenter of both Global Gathering and Radio 3's World On 3, for which Al Andaluz is also recording a session. “Al Andaluz's music is really uplifting, and every bit as vibrant as the likes fo Radio Tarifa, but they go further back, coming closer to the DNA of the thing.”

As a Gael, Kennedy sees this musical migration between Spain and North Africa as not unlike the historic seagoing links between the Gaeldoms of Scotland and Ireland, “at least in terms of trying to understand the movement of people and of cultures. People tend to think of the Mediterranean as the break between one continent and another, but in reality water, and any kind of seaway, was historically a highway.”

The band is something of a cross-cultural collaboration in itself, comprising members of two already established European early music ensembles, the Valencia-based Sephardic specialists L'Ham de Foc and Michael Popp's Estampie from Munich.

- The Scotsman


"Al Andaluz Project"

The Al Andaluz Project is a multicultural fusion experiment that combines two European folk and early music bands who share a common interest. L'Ham de Foc are from Valencia in Spain, where they have specialised in reviving the music of the Jews who flourished in Spain under Moorish rule until the end of the 15th century, when they were expelled by Christians. Estampie, from Germany, are medieval revivalists also fascinated by the music of that era. Both are known for their powerful vocalists, and in this project L'Ham de Foc' s Mara Aranda and Estampie's Sigi Hausen are joined by a third female singer with a fine, clear style, Iman Kandoussi from Morocco. The result mixes Sephardic Jewish, Christian and Arabic styles, with the three singers all handling lead vocals and adding harmonies, against a lush backing
that includes Middle Eastern instruments such as the saz and qanun, and hand-percussion such as the Indian tabla. The playing is sturdy rather than emotional, but there are some powerful fusions, with North African-influenced backing on the Sephardic Yo Me Levantaria,
or the Christian Quen a Omagen da Virgen - The Guardian UK


"Al Andaluz Project: Al-Maraya"

Al Andaluz Project, blended from the ensembles Estampie and L’Ham de Foc, play the music of pre-Reconquista Spain, Sephardic, Moorish and Christian music intertwining and recombining in strange ways. Violins mingle with oud, saz, qanun and santoor. Upfront are the three voices of Mara Anranda, Iman Kandoussi and Sigrid Hausen, representing each of the three traditions. There is an unexpected thrill in hearing thirteenth century Marian hymns in full Andalucian guise, with quarter-tone singing and a rattle of Arabic percussion - Financial Times


"Citas culturales - Al Andaluz Project Gira"

La fascinante colaboración de Estampie (Alemania) con L'ham de Foc (Espana) resulta en una renovadora interpretación de un repertorio inspirado en las culturas centroeuropea, sefarí y andalusí. Tres voces femeninas que representan tres herencias musicales. Al Andalu Project tiene previsto este mes una gran gira por Alemania y Austria, presentando un repetorio que constará de sus mehores canciónes recopiladas en el nuevo DCD/DVD - Ecos - März 2012


"Musikalischer Dialog der Religionen"

Der Name des achtköpfigen Ensembles,
das jetzt im ausverkauften Sendesaal
auftrat, besagt viel über sein musikalisches
Feld: Al Andaluz Project. Gemeint ist
damit die Musik Andalusiens zur Zeit der
Maurenherrschaft im frühesten Mittelalter,
als Islam,Christen- und Judentum im spanischen
Kalifat relativ gleichberechtigt waren
und sich vermengten. Lange wurde der
Kreativaustausch von der Wissenschaft
nicht wahrgenommen – geschuldet einer
Weltsicht, nach der die früheste europäische
Musik gleichsam aus sich selbst heraus
geboren wurde. Erst Mitte der 70er-
Jahre wurden Verbindungen der frühesten
Musiken des europäischen Mittelalters zur
Musik der sephardischen Juden und frühester
arabischer Musik aufgezeigt.
Seitdem haben sich etliche Ensembles
darangemacht, diese Musik tunlichst authentisch
wieder zum Klingen zu bringen.
Neben Spezialisten für frühe Musik taten
dies vor allem Musiker, deren Blick weltmusikalisch
offen ist. Dazu gehört das Ensemble
Estampie, das sich seit 1985 mit der Musik
des Mittelalters befasst. Sein Kopf, der
Multiinstrumentalist Michael Popp, der
auch Karriere in der avancierten Dark-
Wave-Sparte gemacht hat, gehört jetzt mit
seinen Estampie-Partnern Sigrid Hausen
(Blockflöten, Gesang), Ernst Schwindl
(Drehleier) und Sascha Gotowtschikow
(Perkussion) zum Al Andaluz Project.
Die übrigen Musiker des multinationalen
Trupps kommen aus der spanischen
Gruppe L’ham de Foc und ihrem Ableger
Amán Amán, die sich beide wie Estampie
mit der frühesten Musik Spaniens beschäftigen.
Dabei liegt ihr Fokus auf sephardischer
und marokkanischer Musik: Die Sängerinnen
Mara Aranda und Iman al Kandoussi,
Jota Martinez (Drehleier, Laute) sowie
Aziz Samsaoui, die das Quanun, das
arabische Hackbrett, spielt.
In seinem Programm, zu dem Michael
Popp jeweils musikalische Erläuterungen
(inklusive ausführlicher Vorstellung der
Instrumente) lieferte, stellte das Al Andaluz
Project den, wenn man so will, musikalischen
Dreiklang aus Arabischem, Sephardischem
und Europäischem nebeneinander.
Dabei dürfte den Zuhörern ein musikalisches
Licht über die intensive Beziehung
der drei Musikkulturen aufgegangen sein.
Zumal die Lieder aus der berühmten Sammlung
Cantigas de Santa Maria weisen arabische
und sephardische Elemente auf. Aufgelockert
wurde das Programm, das poetische
arabische Lieder neben sephardische
Liebeslieder und sakrale europäische
stellte, durch Tänze der stampfenden Estampie,
jener Liedform, die Troubadoure
des Mittelalters so schätzten, bis zum wilden
Trotto. Ein fabelhaftes Konzert. - Weser Kurier


Discography

Deus et Diabolus (2007)
Al Maraya (2011)
Abuab Al Andaluz - Live in München (2012)

Photos

Bio

When the Munich-based group Estampie, well-known in the medieval music-scene for their innovation and quality met with members of L'Ham de Foc from Valencia (Spain) with their typical mixture of Mediterranean, oriental and medieval music and it's side-product Amán Amán, focusing on Sephardic music, the idea for a common project was born. In Medieval times Al Andalus, the Iberian peninsula, was famous for tolerance, scholarship, wealth, trade and flourishing creative work. People of Muslim, Jewish and Christian believe lived together peacefully, mutually inspiring and influencing each other. These three decisive cultures of Medieval time harmoniously meet again in the music of the Al Andaluz Project, being represented with three extraordinary voices and a wide variety of Medieval and Mediterranean instruments.