Izmir Festival > Program > DRISS EL MALOUMI TRIO & OLTEN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

TAFFASIL

The magic is in the detail – in music anyway. The Arabic word «tafassil» means details.

Without taking precise care of the little things, no art can achieve a greater whole. The Moroccan composer and musician Driss El Maloumi is an internationally celebrated virtuoso on the oud, the short-necked Arabic lute. In his exciting, border-defying new work «Tafassil» for oud, percussion and orchestra, which he created during the pandemic, El Maloumi traces the relationship between detail and overall effect, between the small forces and the big ones: world music with the Tonkunstler. 

Finally, the TAFASSIL (Details in Arabic) project came into being after a long period of continuous work, reflection, writing, rewriting, recording, experimentation and the constant search for different aesthetic formulas. In this work, Driss wanted to emphasise the importance of the “details” of everyday life, to rediscover and embody above all silence, simplicity, fragility, strength, tenderness, meditation, beauty… The choice of a symphony orchestra to perform this new opus is entirely logical. The arrangements were entrusted to Javier Blanco and Javier Vazquez.

 

DRISS EL MALOUMI TRIO

In this trio project (oud + 2 percussionists), Driss invites us to distill the spices gleaned from the thousand paths travelled since Agadir, between Arab, Amazigh, Western and sub-

Saharan cultures. Quietly, simply, in the intimacy of a dialogue with two percussionists. So that his instrument can fully express its greed, its desire to revel in the touch of other essences, other colours. He translates into music this personal journey between his own tradition and his encounters with other cultures.

The undeniable talent of Driss and his 2 accomplices and their incredible on-stage complicity never ceases to surprise and fascinate the audiences who attend their performances. The concerts are punctuated by one or two songs sung by Driss and a musician (in tribute to Moroccan poets), in a particularly soft, hushed atmosphere.

Karima El Maloumi, Driss’s sister, who can be heard singing on the trio’s 2 albums, can also be present at concerts (on request).

Driss El Maloumi’s imagination has long dreamed of his music accompanied by an orchestra. To achieve this, he invited Spanish artist Javier Blanco to work with him on the

arrangements. This new project illustrates a facet of what Driss calls the search for “Tarab” or “musical ecstasy”. The harmonies created between the Oud, percussion and strings give Driss’s repertoire an even more exhilarating dimension.

Right from the start of this project, Driss had the idea of sharing the stage with his own trio and with local musicians from the region where he could perform.

Or otherwise with the String Quintet who recorded the album in Belgium...

The arrangements were made with this in mind and are available, as are all the scores.

As a musician who plays with many artists of different styles, and also as director and teacher at the Conservatoire de Musique d’Agadir in Morocco, he enjoys sharing his knowledge of Arabo-Oriental influences in his music with other musicians.

He has a great ability to quickly put guest musicians at ease when performing his repertoire. It’s a great way of bringing together Eastern and Western music (further information on request).

 

DRISS EL MALOUMI

The press has already praised the quality, purity and delicacy of his music and playing style, calling him a «magician of the oud». Born in 1970 in Agadir, Morocco, Driss El Maloumi is a musician renowned for his talent and virtuosity. He is probably one of the most sought-after oud players of his generation, with his assertive and delicate technique and the depth that characterises this major instrument of Arab-Andalusian music.

After graduating in 1983 with a degree in Arabic literature and writing a dissertation on a philosophical approach to music - La Forme et le fond dans le artistic discourse -, he also followed a solid training in Arabic and Western classical music. He has been regularly awarded first prizes for oud as well as the honorary prize of the national oud examination from the Conservatoire National de Musique de Rabat - in 1992, 1993 and 1994. Since 2010, he has been Director of the Conservatoire de Musique d’Agadir.

Driss El Maloumi knows and interprets traditional Berber music to perfection, his work is nourished and enriched by encounters with internationally renowned artists such as Jordi Savall & the Ensemble Hesperion XXI (Spain), Montserrat Figueras (Spain), with whom he has collaborated on several albums, Pierre Hamon (France), Keyvan Chemirani (Iran), Françoise Atlan (France), Debashish Bhattacharya (India), Omar Bachir (Iraq), Prabhu Edouard (India), Carlo Rizzo (Italy) in early, traditional and classical music, as well as Paolo Fresu (Italy), Claude Tchamitchian (Armenia), Daniel Mille (France) and Xavi Maureta (Spain) in jazz.

Driss has written and participated in the composition of incidental music for numerous shows, including Isabel I, Reina de Castilla (musical director: Jordi Savall), L’Amour Sorcier by Manuel de Fallã , L’Oiseau de lune (direction: Antoine Bourseiller), and Caravane de lune (Direction: Gérard Kurdjian) = not to mention film scores such as La Source des femmes (director: Radu Miahileanu) and Le Maroc vu du ciel (director: Yann-Arthus Bertrand). El Maloumi also performs alongside great poets such as Abdellatif Laâbi (Morocco) & Adonis (Syria).

 

Discographically, Driss recorded in:

- 2000 the jazz album Tawada - co-written with Alban Darche (4 stars in Jazz Magazine),

- 2005 his 1st solo album L’âme Dansée

- 2008 3MA with Ballaké Sissoko & Rajery, best World Music album at Charts Europe, 

- 2014 Makan in Trio with Saïd El Maloumi and Lahoucine Baqir (“Masterpiece!”, for the French magazine, Les Inrockuptibles)

- 2017 Anarouz in 2017, again with Ballaké Sissoko and Rajery

- 2023 Aswat, also as a trio.

 

Driss has also contributed to some fifteen albums by Jordi Savall.

Finally, he has taken part in remarkable projects such as Françoise Atlan’s 1998 album Noches, which won a Choc du Monde de la Musique, and Laurent Voulzy’s Lys & Love in 2011.

Didier BENETTI Conductor Composer Arranger 

As principal timpanist of the Orchestre National de France, Didier BENETTI has performed with prestigious conductors such as: Lorin MAAZEL, Seiji OZAWA, Pierre BOULEZ, Ricardo MUTI, Valery GERGIEV, Kurt MASUR, Daniele GATTI... enriched by these meetings he decided to devote himself to conducting, his first steps being guided by Manuel ROSENTHAL. His musical eclecticism allows him to approach with the same happiness the works of the great symphonic repertoire, the lyrical repertoire, with a predilection for works full of colors and rhythms. He has participated on many occasions in the fusion of musical genres such as: symphonic and jazz music, traditional music, electronic music. As composer he has a lot composition for « silent film » he collaborate with French National Radio « France culture » for music fiction . Regular collaborations with Orchestra L’Orchestre National de France L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier L'Orchestre National d'Ile de France L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Bucarest L’Orchestre National de Lille L’Orchestre de Bretagne L'Orchestre Symphonique de Barcelone L’Opéra Royal de Liège Tonkustler orchestra.

 

OLTEN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Olten Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in December 2013 by Ceyhan Olten, Electrical Engineer, and Fatma Olten, Industrial Engineer, with the awareness that one of the most important contributions that can be made for the society in which they live is to support the arts. The first aim of the orchestra is to provide job opportunities for young artists, who unfortunately cannot find a job after years of conservatory education, and a platform where they can perform their art, and to support them in their studies abroad. The second aim, of course, is to enable artists to introduce the society in which we live to the universal language of music, its bright and loving face, with the help of this platform provided to artists. And the ultimate aim is the endeavour to overcome the lack of elegance of the society with the awareness that elegance is born from the unity of mind and emotions and its most important source is art.

Olten Philharmonic Orchestra has started regular concerts since its first official season in 2014/15 and has been performing continuously since then.

In 2017, the orchestra was introduced and its philosophy was explained in a 40-minute programme on the German BR Klassik.

In 2019, it invited the Rotterdam Youth Orchestra to Izmir and organised concerts with this orchestra in 4 different towns in and around Izmir.

On the occasion of 2021 European Union World Tolerance Day, the Olten Philharmonic Youth Orchestra performed a Tolerance Concert with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, which was watched in all European countries.

In September 2022, it was invited to the 7th Fuerteventura Opera Festival in the Canary Islands of Spain and thus made its first overseas tour.

In 2024, it was invited to perform in Amsterdam Concertgebouw for Valentine's Day on 14th February and had the opportunity to give a concert in one of the most prestigious halls of the world.

Olten Philharmonic Orchestra, on the one hand, welcomes tens of thousands of audiences, including children, in its regular concerts, on the other hand, contributes to the promotion of our country in the prestigious halls, festivals and television channels of the world.

The Olten Philharmonic Orchestra is an initiative of the Olten Art Foundation.