MAZEN EL BAGIR & ENSEMBLE

This season, the festival is taking a new direction. “We want to showcase African cultures through their Arab dimension,” explains curator Naseer Shamma. “This expansion is not only about geography, but also about shared memory, rhythms that emerge from the earth itself, and voices that have remained alive in the human spirit throughout the ages.”

Shamma—who will not be performing himself this year but will instead present a solo recital in March—has invited five ensembles featuring musicians from various African countries whose musical identities are shaped by centuries-old traditions.

“This music has been passed down from one generation to the next,” he says, “not merely as a legacy, but as a living, breathing organism that transforms and evolves, repeatedly reaffirming that what springs from the human soul never perishes.”

In the second concert, Sudanese composer and oud player Mazen Al Baqer and his quartet will perform their own works, which blend African traditions with contemporary improvisational freedom.

ARTISTS

• Mazen El Bagir, oud and composition
• Ali Dridi, clarinet
• Lotfi Soua, percussion
• Wajih Al-Ajmi, double bass