AARHUS JAZZ FESTIVAL
July 13 - 20 2024
Etnolab feat. Maher Mahmoud – Bazarjazz ((DK/SY)) - Photo:

Photo:

Etnolab feat. Maher Mahmoud – Bazarjazz ((DK/SY))

17:00

Maher Mahmoud (Oud), Johan Toftegaard Knudsen (sax, cl, voc, kaval), Jens Christian Kwella (g) Torben Bøtker Bjørnskov (b), Frederik Emil Bülow (drm)

A musical laboratory where boundaries between traditions and genres are dissolved

This is what happens when Etnolab unclogs the pipes and Bulgarian and Turkish music tradition flows from the same tap, while jazz, rock, and improvisation flow from the other.

These highly reactive musical elements coalesce in the laboratory's pipes and flasks, and the music is reborn in a previously unknown reaction, which the four musical lab technicians observe and replicate on stage.

At the head of the laboratory team is Johan Toftegaard Knudsen, who for several years has studied the hyper-complex melodic wavelengths, rhythmic frequencies, and soulful energy states of Bulgarian folk music. He uses his insight to transform the jazz paradigm he has grown up with. This has resulted in new compositions that speak their very own language, as well as hybrid reinterpretations of Bulgarian tradition.

Together with his team, he continues experimenting, breathing life into the compositions, and manifesting them in floating, dancing, and lively music.

The band has had great performances at Aarhus Jazz Festival and Det Turkise Telt in recent years and released the album The Science of Meetings in 2017.

Etnolab is here joined by Maher Mahmoud from Syria, now living in Aarhus, who is a master of the classic Arabic oud. He brings along a small handful of his compositions.

Maher Mahmoud began his musical education as a six-year-old and graduated from The Higher Institute of Music in Damascus in 2010. In 2019, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus / Aalborg with a major in rhythmic composition. For the past 15 years, Maher has composed and arranged for several different ensembles and played with a host of large bands, including Damon Albarn and Brian Eno, the Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Dunia Ensemble, and The Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra.


Organizer
Bazarjazz
51 49 38 25
Info/Ticket

Cover charge FREE

Aarhus Jazz Festival

Godsbanen, Skovgaardsgade 3

DK-8000 Aarhus C