Ali Ibn Nafi, nicknamed Zyriab (the blackbird), was a ninth-century Iraqi court musician, praised for his compositions and his virtuoso playing on the oud (Arabic lute). He had a great influence on the cultural climate of the southern Spanish city of Cordoba, then capital of the Islamic Caliphate.
Zyryab(1990) to the musician. The virtuoso French flamenco guitarist Juan Carmona, son of Spanish
… immigrants, also pays tribute to this historical figure. On the concept album Zyriab 6.7 Carmona follows the artist on his more than 6,7 thousand kilometre long journey from Bagdad, via Syria and Tunisia to Cordoba. In a beautifully conceived way, he fuses Southern Spanish flamenco with Middle Eastern music and instruments. Where such attempts sometimes fail to transcend the thousand-and-one-night clichés, Carmona dives deeper. Certainly the vocal contributions of Algerian singer Kawthar Meziti and singer/instrumentalist Ptit Moh give this fusion a certain authenticity. Collaborations with flamenco greats like Duquende, El Pele and Dorantes and the Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf make the album a high-quality tribute that, despite the many guests, sounds like a fascinating and coherent whole. (JV)more
