Astrakan Café is an album by Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem

Anouar Brahem

Anouar Brahem is an oud player and composer. He is widely acclaimed as an innovator in his field...

 recorded in 1999 and released on the ECM label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek called it "deeply personal, profound music. It is also highly iconographic, with timelessness woven through every measure... This would be traditional music if a tradition such as this -- which is original, though adapted from many sources on inspiration -- actually existed. Highly recommended "

Track listing

All compositions by Anouar Brahem except as indicated

1. "Aube Rouge à Grozny" (Barbaros Erköse) - 4:22
2. "Astrakan Café Part 1" - 3:18
3. "The Mozdok's Train" - 4:46
4. "Blue Jewels" - 8:31
5. "Nihawend Lunga" (Jamil Bey) - 3:32
6. "Ashkabad" (Anouar Brahem, Barbaros Erköse, Lassad Hosni) - 5:38
7. "Halfaouine" - 5:57
8. "Parfumo de Gitane" - 7:03
9. "Khotan" - 3:31
10. "Karakoum" - 5:08
11. "Astara" - 10:46
12. "Dar Es Salam" - 3:47
13. "Hijaz Pechref" (Brahem, Osman Bey Fragment) - 6:24
14. "Astrakan Café Part 2" - 4:49
    • Recorded at Monastery of St Gerold in Austria in June 1999

Personnel

• Anouar Brahem
  Anouar Brahem
  Anouar Brahem is an oud player and composer. He is widely acclaimed as an innovator in his field...
  
   - oud
  Oud
  The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
  
  
• Barbaros Erköse - clarinet
  Clarinet
  The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
  
  
• Lassad Honsi - bendir
  Bendir
  The bendir is a frame drum used as a traditional instrument throughout North Africa. Unlike the tambourine, it has no jingles but most often has a snare stretched across its head, which when the drum is struck with the fingers or palm gives the tone a buzzing quality.The bendir is a frame drum...
  
  , darbouka