Marouan Benabdallah – Piano recital: Arabesque An approach to Arab classical music

Leaving Morocco at the age of 13 to continue his musical training in Hungary, Marouan Benabdallah now returns to his roots to the explore the rhythms and melodies of his youth.

His project Arabesque is the fruit of much research into the works of classical composers of the Arab world. It is a repertoire almost unknown to the greater public in which the modes and rhythms of Arab music meld with the forms and structures of western classical music to create an original and unique synthesis.

Some of the pieces in the programme are religiously inspired, such as La nuit du destin (Night of Destiny) by Dia Succari, alluding to the blessed 27^th night of the sacred month of Ramadan; Badrou Hosnen by Zad Moultaka composed for the Maqam Siba, one of the modes used in the psalms of the Qur’an; and Al Male Rachamim by Mohammed Fairouz, a prayer that is part of Jewish funerary rites.