Talking strings
Oud meets 7-string guitar & drums
Our project
Talking Strings – Oud meets 7 string Guitar & Drums
Urban Oriental Jazz | Rabat . Kairo . Berlin
Alaa Zouiten (MAR) – Oud (arabische Laute) | Andreas Brunn (D) 7-String Acoustic Guitar| Muhammad Ra´fat (EGY) – Percussion, Darbuka, Drums
IIn 2014, the ensemble For Free Hands performed at the Jazz au Chellah festival in Rabat, Morocco and we had a wonderful musical encounter between Alaa Zouiten andAndreas Brunn. We decided to create a joinable ensemble, creating the Talking Stringswith the involvement of the Egyptian drummer Muhammad Ra’fat.
Biography
ALAA ZOUITEN – In 2015, Alaa wins a grant from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture and works on his second album “Talking Oud”. In this album he experiments with the stylistic, technical and aesthetic possibilities of the oud. The result is a fascinating mix of Arabic, Andalusian jazz and rock. In his compositions and arrangements, Alaa Zouiten uses the infinite diversity in time and space. A creative process that constantly seeks new musical perspectives and celebrates the beauty of music.
MUHAMMAD RA’FAT is known as a classically trained percussionist and darabouka player and has taken workshops with Grammy award-winning artist Fathy Salama, among others. More recently he has toured Egypt, the Middle East, North America and Europe with various artists and projects including Fathy Salama, Dina El Wedidi, Youssra El Hawary, Ramy Essam and the Rami Attallah Group.
ANDREAS BRUNN – born in 1964 in Weimar, has been playing the clarinet since he was six, began to learn the guitar at the age of fourteen and has been a musician in bands of various styles ever since. He studied guitar and music theory at the “Franz Liszt” University of Music in Weimar.
His composition “Two Faces” was awarded 1st prize in the guitar composition competition Open Strings in 1999, announced throughout Germany by the specialized magazine AKUSTIKGitarre.
The guitarist has given concerts at various European and Asian festivals and has worked with Petri Hakala, Stoyan Yankoulov, Ateshan Husseinov, Uli Bartel, Mack Goldsbury, Ralf Siedhoff, Ferenc Snetberger and has given concerts with a solo program. Andreas Brunn took conga lessons with Topo Gioa and teaches percussion using the Ta-Ke-Ti-Na method.
In 2003 he was a scholarship holder of the Senate Department for Science, Research and Culture, Berlin in Bulgaria and in 2008 also a scholarship holder in Finland.
In the summer of 2004 and 2007 he was the artistic director of the EU-supported project “Young Music Caravan Europe”, which traveled 7,500 km with young musicians from Europe and made guest appearances at renowned festivals in a large number of countries.
Press
Trade magazine Jazzpodium (Alexander Schmitz)
“Andreas Brunn is a committed guitarist and composer, an active bridge builder … take “East Side Gallery Story” as the story of a musician who could find his way in the world just fine, but instead uncomplainingly turns the burdens of (time) historical reappraisal and responsibility into music that has to be uncomfortable.”
Kieler Nachrichten
“Andreas Brunn always evokes memories of John McLaughlin. His playing and compositional talent are enigmatic and of intelligent wit; after all, a jazz fugue like “Wizards’ Cube” does not write itself”.
Talking Strings Live
Concerts
