SADAQA

The distance between the foothills of the southern Caucasus and the borders of what was historically known as Mesopotamia is around 1,000 kilometres. Today, this large region between Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Syria and northern Iraq is culturally and politically fragmented. But, from a historical perspective, there are still huge cultural influences from both sides. And what medium would be better suited to revealing these influences — making them audible, palpable, perceptible — than music? This is exactly what SWR Jazz Prize recipient Manfred Bründl, bassist and professor at the FRANZ LISZT UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC WEIMAR, is trying to achieve in his new project with the universal Arabic title
Sadaqa, ‘Friendship’, which spans the whole spectrum from traditional sounds and songs from the southern Caucasus to the musical traditions of Mesopotamia.

The artists embody the many facets of the project, launched especially for the KUNSTFEST WEIMAR 2021 and the KLANGLANDSCHAFTEN
MÜLHEIM/MÜNSTER : Ibrahim Keivo has Armenian roots and comes from a Yazidi-Kurdish village in northeast Syria; he sings in various dialects of Arabic, Kurdish, Aramaic and Armenian, and is also a gifted multi-instrumentalist. Oud virtuoso Mohannad Nasser, who has won many international awards, also comes from Syria. Bodek Janke, on the other hand, is one of the most sought-after percussionists and drummers on the jazz and world-music scene and has won prizes at the INTERNATIONAL EUROPE JAZZ CONTEST, among others.