Nomad Spirit

Where Abaji’s previous album, « Oriental voyage » paid homage to his great-grandmothers from Armenia and Greece, « Nomad spirit » turns to the spiritual heritage inspired by his great-grandfathers from Smyrna and Aleppo. Because that’s what this multi-instrumentalist is all about. Yet again, this “Bedouin troubadour” has gleefully immersed himself in the roots (or is it “routes”?) that his parents bequeathed him; yet again, he converses musically with family ghosts he resuscitates from Lebanon, Syria, Armenia, Turkey and Greece.

The result is his most accomplished CD so far. Like those fantastic storytellers who roam the deserts and mountains of the Orient and beyond, Abaji evokes poetic soundscapes through his dextrous handling of the sitar-guitar, guitar, bouzouki, bamboo-saxophone, bamboo-flute, clarinet or percussions. He sparingly uses this voice from beyond the dead (“outre-tombe”, as they say in French) that characterised his earlier recordings, but when he does they are to remind us of the power of his verse:
“My way is sand and the voice of the centuries
My way is sand, sand and sky
My way is sand, sand and confidence
In my heart are sand, sand and song
In my heart are emotions and water.”

The Paris-based Lebanese exile has never relinquished in his mission to bridge the geographical divide between his Mediterranean homelands and eastern cultures rooted in India and Pakistan. “Nomad spirit” is another step in that direction. It leans intelligently on the virtuoso prowess of Indian percussionist Ramesh Shotham, duduk master Dijivan Gasparyan from Armenia and top Moroccan gimbri/oud performer Majid Bekkas. The result is a beguiling voyage, a bluesy kaleidoscope that shrouds us in instrumental arabesques we are reluctant to leave after 65 minutes of utter pleasure.

Daniel Brown

September 2005

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