A1. Toska (7:14)
A2. Interlude (0:47)
A3. To Kafranbel (4:55)
B1. Al Baseet (5:08)
B2. Shamal (2:12)
B3. Einsamkeit Impromptu (4:26)
DRUKOWANA WEWNĘTRZNA KOPERTA
Henrik Schwarz’s Between Buttons label is pleased to announce its second
release, Aphorisms, is a six track debut record from Syrian musicians Khaled Kurbeh &
Raman Khalaf Ensemble. Raman Khalaf and Khaled Kurbeh are now based in Berlin but
hail from Syria, and that shows in the music they have been making together since 2015.
The years since have seen them perform at the likes of CTM, at the BBC Arabic Festival in
London and Potsdamer Tanztage as well as on Piano Day at Funkhaus. Their sound mixes
up Raman’s oud playing and vocals with Khaled’s piano and synthesisers, and ranges from
largely acoustic, such as on this EP, to more electronic when performing live.
This new record was written by Khaled and Raman and was later recorded with an
ensemble of Berlin based musicians. They have diverse backgrounds that range from
formal classical studies at conservatories to virtuoso jazz musicians and include Tom
Berkmann on bass, Moussa Coulibaly on djembe, Ashraf Kateb on violin, Matthias Ruppnig
on drums and Nora Thiele on percussion.“The record was written over the last two years
and blurs lines between written music and improvised playing,” says Raman. Khaled then
adds, “The pieces articulate our reflections on different topics such as solitude, absurdism,
the simple man, and despair in a fictional musical narrative, hence the title Aphorisms.”
The music itself fuses ambient, jazz, minimal and world styles right from the off. Opener
‘Toska’ is an epic cinematic opener. It’s warm and gentle with oud and violins making for
their own little chapters in the overall story. ‘Interlude’ is an absorbing passage of piano,
double bass and synth and then ’To Kafranbel’ is nimble and dynamic as keys and oud
sounds dance about. ‘Al Baseet’ is another upbeat number with hand claps and oud
bringing a nice sense of groove to the Iraqi-style vocals up top, while ‘Shamal’ is a snippet
of a long, bass driven studio live jam with claps, djembe and percussion before the pensive
pianos of ‘Einsamkeit Impromptu’ round things out in tender fashion.
The artwork for this release is an etching by artist Yaser Safi and will come as 10 limited
edition etchings printed at the Berlin Weissensee School of Art. It is a special final touch to
a special debut record from this exciting new musical collective