Nahadin (2014)
7 tracks, 38 minutes
Bandcamp ∙ Spotify ∙ iTunes
Back when I used to write reviews regularly for fRoots magazine, I apparently somehow gained a reputation as a connoisseur of music from the Middle East and North Africa, and as a result I was sent loads of albums from those regions for review. Out of those, an extremely common subsection emerged: Arabic jazz. This stuff is being made all over those regions (and further afield), and each group has their slightly different take on it, but after a while, all these albums seemed to blend in with each other. Nevertheless, this one, Nahadin by Hijaz, stood out as particularly special.
The impression starts before you've even pressed play: the album has a beautiful cover that you unfortunately cannot appreciate fully in its digital version at the top of this post. The album's jewel case is enclosed in a sleeve of entirely off-white, textured card with what I think is the album's title, written in ornate Arabic calligraphy, embossed on the front. Always lovely to have pleasing visual (and tactile) art to accompany the musical. That musical element is similarly pleasing. The Arabic elements – most recognisable in the contributions of the oud of Moufadhel Adhoum and the vocals of Abir Nasraoui – are met with absolutely top-class jazz, and every one of the musicians ably blend the two in their performance; a real highlight of this can be heard in the piano solo by Niko Deman on the first track, 'Nahadin'.
A lot of these sort of Arabic jazz experiments stick to meditative styles, or at least to atmospheres that bring to mind Arabic classical music – serious, intense and introspective. But Hijaz aren't afraid to go upbeat and lively with it, even with their all-acoustic ensemble – see the track 'Desert Dancer', which starts with a funky double bass, joined by Arabic percussion, buzzing oud and finally piano, bringing in all the sophisticated influences and ambitions while losing none of that funk – or fun.
I still do write for fRoots occasionally, even sometimes about North African musicians (you can read my article on also-Tunisian musician and producer Sofyann Ben Youssef in the current issue!), although I rarely write of Arabic jazz nowadays. However, in a surprisingly crowded marketplace, Hijaz and Nahadin still stand out as a high point of musical expression and close intercultural collaboration.
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