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Anouar Brahem: Khomsa
[ECM] (1996)
Sophisticated and Continental yet North African and tribal at the same time, Anouar Brahem’s new CD Khomsa is compiled from music originally written for the cinema and theatre in his home country of Tunisia. The album draws together three players Brahem has worked with before—violinist Béchir Selmi, keyboardist François Couturier, and saxophonist Jean Marc Larché—with three musicians new to his music—familiar ECM rhythm section members Jon Christenson on drums and Palle Danielsson on bass, and the astounding Richard Galliano on accordion. Galliano, who studied under Astor Piazzolla, will be an impressive discovery to many listeners: a brilliant improvisor with his feet equally planted in Tango Nuevo and avant-garde jazz.
Khomsa is one of those rare CDs that gives you a truly cinematic experience, one you have to listen to all the way through—it’s not a collection of tunes, it’s a whole narrative. The shifting nature of the music gives all seven players a chance to take center stage, and great moments of beauty are the result. “Claquent les voiles” flickers and dances, featuring tight phrases on oud and bass. “L’infini jour” is a subtle, extended oud solo that shows Brahem as a master of the pan-Islamic tradition and a gifted improvisor. “Des rayons et des ombres” is a high-energy trio improv for accordion, bass, and drums that can shatter stone. The CD’s exit track, “Comme un absence,” features a liquid violin melody floating over a distant flurry of rhythm instruments that evoke dustdevils in the sand, a farewell that says there will always be more to tell.
For me, the heart of the album really begins with “E la nave va,” the first of five tracks that share some thematic material, making up an unstated suite. The center of this group is “Khomsa,” the album’s title track, which is an old Tunisian female name meaning “the five fingers of the hand,” and the heroine’s name in Norui Bouzid’s film Bezness, for which Brahem wrote the music. “Khomsa” has a sinuous melody that evokes the image of the beautiful heroine walking through the dust and chaos of the marketplace, intent on the passions of her life, oblivious to the effect she has on passersby.
Much of this album is simply beautiful, subtle and rich with understated emotion. Repeated listenings really got under my skin, making me pace the room in agitated, barely-restrained emotion. Tearful melodies spin together to create hope, light out of the darkness, the “flowers of deep feeling.” Everything about Khomsa is fragrant with beauty and hidden depths. It’s a vision you won’t soon forget.
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