Aleph Quintet

Hyphenated: Music + Identity

Two violin students - Marvin from France and Akram from Tunisia - live next door to each in Belgium and hear each other practicing. Finally, Marvin decides to knock on Akram's door and introduce himself. They quickly become good friends, roommates, and decide to form a project, the Aleph Quintet, to express their cross-border friendship - blending jazz improvisations and North African rhythm and melodies. The quintet also includes another Tunisian-born musician, Wajdi Riahi on piano, and has received accolades including “Journées Musicales de Carthage” in Tunisia as well as the “Prix de la presse musicale” in France. But every year, they have to reckon with government bureaucracy which could end their project.
This episode was very special for me as it was the first one I recorded for this project. I tossed the idea around for almost a year before deciding to give it a shot during the WOMEX convention last year. When I was done speaking with Akram and Marvin, I knew I was on to something. And the next day, the two came over and gave me a heartfelt thanks for giving them a platform to tell their story. It meant a lot and really sealed the deal on making this project a reality.

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