ECM Records ANOUAR BRAHEM - CONTE DE L'INCROYABLE AMOUR CD

After the great critical success that was Barzakh, the European debut of Tunisian oud virtuoso Anouar Brahem, which particularly emphasized the Andalusian strain in Brahem's music, Conte de l'Incroyable Amour is something of a pan-Islamic project with Anouar extending a welcome to two Turkish contemporaries, Kudsi Erguner and Barbaros Erköse. Erguner plays the nai, the reed flute of Islam, and is recognized worldwide as a leading interpreter of the Sufi dervish tradition. Erköse is a master clarinetist, who came to fame in the Erköse Brothers group. As unaccompanied oud improvisor, spinning out solos of a jewelled brilliance, Brahem has few, if any, peers. As his former teacher, oud master Ali Srithi, put it: "Anouar Brahem is the best lutenist in Tunisia. He has the touch and the feel. Only he knows the secrets."