Koum Tara Karim Maurice & Sid-Ahmed Belksier

• 1 Alik Belana 06:27
• 2 Interlude 03:21
• 3 Mazel Khatmi 06:33
• 4 Koum Tara 09:03
• 5 Ya Kalek Lechia 04:51
• 6 Ya Taleb 06:42
• 7 M'shet Lya 06:08
• 8 Ya Ladra 08:35
• 9 Tloumouni 11:21
• Total Runtime 01:03:01

Info for Koum Tara

Koum Tara is a meeting of four musical worlds centred around a common project, created and directed by pianist-composer Karim Maurice: traditional chaâbi music, classical string quartet, contemporary music and jazz. The raw material was extracted from the traditional repertoire of Algerian singer Sid Ahmed Belksier.

These themes were worked, distorted, reharmonized and restructured to create a hybrid, cross-cultural style. As part of the writing process, the musicians (Karim Maurice, Sid Ahmed Belksier, Kamal Mazouni and Brice Berrerd) brought their own identity and their specific know-how to each piece. This has been a cultural meeting of minds, resulting in a unique musical texture. Chaâbi's traditional poetry and love songs are blended with the tradition of the Western string quartet, jazz improvisation and electronic music, creating a fusion of styles and genres within each piece.

At a time when humanity, respect for cultures, and tolerance are seen as much-needed values for building a better world, this performance offers a musical universe in which each person brings his or her identity, cultural heritage and originality to sing universal love.

Karim Maurice
is a French pianist composer-arranger who performs in various style of music like international classic orchestras and also jazz area and current music.

Qualified as an international concert artist, he is a side-man and also a great leader covering several stages. His personal projects reflect his taste for cultural mixture where people can meet and share without any musical borders.

Karim Maurice was born in Grenoble in 1976. He studied classical and jazz music at the Music Academy of Grenoble and Chambéry. In 2003, he won the first prize of writing musical and orchestration at the famous National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Lyon.

Through his Karim Maurice Project, a repertoire which combines writing for string quartet and jazz quintet, he has been nominated The Revelation of 2008 at the jazz festival of Ramatuelle. Thanks to the success of this album, he won the Sacem Prize of self-production and a partnership with Francophonie Diffusion in 2013. Moreover he has been rewarded for this project during the international competition « Made in New York Jazz Competition » in 2015. Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker and Lenny White were part of the jury during this event. Furthermore Karim Maurice has been awarded for the first prize of composition and the second prize of all categories .

In 2016, he is prize-winner and grant holder of FAJE (French American Jazz Exchange) in United States for his Odysseus Fantasy project in partnership with William Galison and the string orchestra La Camerata.

This album contains no booklet.