Live at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music

Tracklist + Liner Notes

1. Taqsīm (Maqām Nahāwand) [Live]

   DESCRIPTION
   Live from the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music this year, this exquisite kanun solo piece, ‘Taqsim’, takes the most subtle longings of the soul and turns them into sound. Ethereal and and intensely beautiful, this evocative instrumental is masterfully performed by Onur Cicin in maqam Nahawand with allusions to Bayati.

   CREDITS

   FOH & Recording Engineer: Sachin Savio
   Monitor Engineer: Diego Biagioni

   Mixed & Mastered by Vishnu Rajan @ Andante Studios
   Video Editing & Postproduction by Omar Al-Balushi @ Andante Studios

   PERFORMERS (From right to left):

   Seyyed Mohammad Jaberi: daf, bendir & vocals
   Ömer Avci: bendir, tef, kudum & vocals
   Onur Cicin: qanun
   Sezgin Yaman: oud
   Emre Kayacan: kemanche
   Hasan Kirkisoglu: ney
   Mahyar Toreihi: santoor
   Hüseyin Can Pala: bağlama

   AND

   Sami Yusuf

   Special thanks to Ismail Boujia & his group for joining as guest vocalists (From right to left):

   Mostafa El Lachkar
   Ismail Boujia
   Elouafi Mohammed
   Hamza Idrissi
   Mohammed El Alami
   Abderrazak Idrissi

2. The Key (Lamma Bada Yatathanna) [Live]

   DESCRIPTION
   Recorded live at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in June 2019, Sami Yusuf’s latest single ‘The Key’ is based on a famous centuries-old Andalusian folk song. This musically rich piece is beautifully performed here by world class musicians accompanying Sami Yusuf’s signature vocals. New English lyrics along with the original Arabic poem weave together seamlessly to create a stunning sound that is peaceful, exotic and centering.

   CREDITS

   FOH & Recording Engineer: Sachin Savio
   Monitor Engineer: Diego Biagioni

   Mixed & Mastered by Vishnu Rajan @ Andante Studios
   Video Editing & Postproduction by Omar Al-Balushi @ Andante Studios

   PERFORMERS (From right to left):

   Seyyed Mohammad Jaberi: daf, bendir & vocals
   Ömer Avci: bendir, tef, kudum & vocals
   Onur Cicin: qanun
   Sezgin Yaman: oud
   Emre Kayacan: kemanche
   Hasan Kirkisoglu: ney
   Mahyar Toreihi: santoor
   Hüseyin Can Pala: bağlama

   AND

   Sami Yusuf

   Special thanks to Ismail Boujia & his group for joining as guest vocalists (From right to left):

   Mostafa El Lachkar
   Ismail Boujia
   Elouafi Mohammed
   Hamza Idrissi
   Mohammed El Alami
   Abderrazak Idrissi

3. Hamziyya [Live]

   ‘Hamziyya’ is a multi-layered piece that brings together music inspired by an Algerian mystical chant with a melody suggestive of the English folk tradition. In the interweaving of these musical expressions the listener can hear how traditional music is always in harmony, never dissonant. ‘Hamziyya’ was initially released on Sami Yusuf’s album Barakah, but this is a completely new arrangement with a never-before-heard Taqsīm composition in the Intro.

   The Intro was performed for the first time at the 2019 Fes Festival of Sacred Music. In it each solo instrument explores a unique maqam or musical mode: Sīkah (qanun), Bayāti (bağlama), Rāst (ney), Hījāz (oud), and eventually returning to Rāst. Each of these modes is known to have a distinct emotional effect on the listener. Here the transitions from one mode to another are arranged to evoke various stages of an inner journey.

   The lyrics come from portions of the thousand-verse Hamziyya (poem rhyming in hamza) by the renowned Palestinian scholar Yusuf Nabhani (d. 1932). Because it describes the Prophet’s life and character, it’s frequently recited during Mawlid celebrations of the Prophet’s (pbuh) birthday.

   CREDITS

   Music Composed and Arranged by Sami Yusuf
   (Refrain based on a mystical Algerian chant)
   Words by Yusuf Nabhani

   English translation by T J Winter
   Additional translation by Yousef Casewit and Saad Ansari

   FOH & Recording Engineer: Sachin Savio
   Monitor Engineer: Diego Biagioni

   Mixed & Mastered by Vishnu Rajan @ Andante Studios
   Video Editing & Postproduction by Omar Al-Balushi @ Andante Studios

   PERFORMERS (From right to left):

   Seyyed Mohammad Jaberi: daf, bendir & vocals
   Ömer Avci: bendir, tef, kudum & vocals
   Onur Cicin: qanun
   Sezgin Yaman: oud
   Emre Kayacan: kemanche
   Hasan Kirkisoglu: ney
   Mahyar Toreihi: santoor
   Hüseyin Can Pala: bağlama

   AND

   Sami Yusuf

   Special thanks to Ismail Boujia & his group for joining as guest vocalists (From right to left):

   Mostafa El Lachkar
   Ismail Boujia
   Elouafi Mohammed
   Hamza Idrissi
   Mohammed El Alami
   Abderrazak Idrissi

4. Track 04
5. Track 05
6. Track 06
7. Track 07
8. Track 08
9. Track 09
10. Track 10
11. Track 11