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Cordoba Guitar Festival
July 07, 20159:30 p.m.
CóRDOBA
Teatro Góngora (at Calle Jesus y María, 10 - Cordoba)
9:30 p.m.
Tickets: 12 euros. Tickets on sale soon at the box office of the Gran Teatro and through Uniticket.
For yet another year, Casa Árabe is taking part in this musical event with a concert by duo Ali Khattab and Hesham Essam.
This performance is a conversation between Ali Khattab’s guitar and the Arabic oud played by young master Hesham Essam. The two of them have been collaborating on this project for more than six years, during which time they have never stopped pushing the limits of dialogue among musical styles, between the guitar and the Arabic oud. The duo unveils the compositions of Ali Khattab, many of which are arranged in their albums for a broader group, thereby displaying all of their subtlety and beauty.
Ali Khattab is a young Egyptian guitarist who found his personal style at a very early age. When he was born in Cairo, he already had maqamat (the melodic modes of Arab music) running through his veins. As he learned to play the guitar, he fell in love with flamenco and moved to Jerez de la Frontera when he was in his twenties, to delve into the culture of flamenco and learn the “ropes” of this musical style. Since then, Ali has forged his own style by mixing Arab music and flamenco, and unlike other projects which go down the path of “fusion,” Ali has discovered that the two styles can simply coexist, with no need for adaptation.
Cordoba Guitar Festival
Ali Khattab - Composer and guitarist
Born in Cairo in 1977, Ali Khattab began to learn to play the guitar through self-teaching at the age of eleven. However, his nearly obsessive passion for the instrument began with the discovery of flamenco, two years later.
At the age of 20, he set off on a trip which took him to Jerez de la Frontera, where he met with influential guitar players, singers, dancers and palmeros, who introduced him into the true world of flamenco. Inspired by this music from Andalusia, he began his earliest explorations as a composer to outline his own path, in which Eastern music meets and merges with flamenco.
Since then, surrounded by great Egyptian and Spanish musicians, he has presented his project in many Middle Eastern and European countries with different music groups, from a duo to a sextet, captivating the audience at each performance. His first two albums, Al Zarqa (Nuevos Medios, 2010) and Sin País (Nesma Music, 2014), he has earned awards and received praise from critics in Spain, Europe and the United States.
Hesham Essam – Arabic oud
Hesham Essam was born in Cairo in 1983 and began to learn the Arabic oud at the early age of 11 years. He studied musical theory and the Arabic oud at the Cairo Opera, as well as earning a university degree in Musical Education at the National Conservatory of Egypt. At the same time, he took part in a large number of projects, including great Egyptian virtuoso Abdou Dagher’s orchestra, of which he is one of the key members. He is also a member of several fusion groups, including the well-known Eastern jazz group El Dor El Awal.
Despite his youth, Essam is now one of the most respected Arabic oud players in Egypt, in great demand for both recording sessions and for orchestra concerts. He has been awarded with the prestigious prize for Best Arabic Oud Player given by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Culture two times in a row. In 2007, he represented his country at the Beethoven Festival in Germany. Talented with prodigious technique and an amazing sense of melodics, Hesham Essam has been Ali Khattab’s inseparable colleague since Ali’s project was created in 2007.
Ali Khattab is a young Egyptian guitarist who found his personal style at a very early age. When he was born in Cairo, he already had maqamat (the melodic modes of Arab music) running through his veins. As he learned to play the guitar, he fell in love with flamenco and moved to Jerez de la Frontera when he was in his twenties, to delve into the culture of flamenco and learn the “ropes” of this musical style. Since then, Ali has forged his own style by mixing Arab music and flamenco, and unlike other projects which go down the path of “fusion,” Ali has discovered that the two styles can simply coexist, with no need for adaptation.
Cordoba Guitar Festival
Ali Khattab - Composer and guitarist
Born in Cairo in 1977, Ali Khattab began to learn to play the guitar through self-teaching at the age of eleven. However, his nearly obsessive passion for the instrument began with the discovery of flamenco, two years later.
At the age of 20, he set off on a trip which took him to Jerez de la Frontera, where he met with influential guitar players, singers, dancers and palmeros, who introduced him into the true world of flamenco. Inspired by this music from Andalusia, he began his earliest explorations as a composer to outline his own path, in which Eastern music meets and merges with flamenco.
Since then, surrounded by great Egyptian and Spanish musicians, he has presented his project in many Middle Eastern and European countries with different music groups, from a duo to a sextet, captivating the audience at each performance. His first two albums, Al Zarqa (Nuevos Medios, 2010) and Sin País (Nesma Music, 2014), he has earned awards and received praise from critics in Spain, Europe and the United States.
Hesham Essam – Arabic oud
Hesham Essam was born in Cairo in 1983 and began to learn the Arabic oud at the early age of 11 years. He studied musical theory and the Arabic oud at the Cairo Opera, as well as earning a university degree in Musical Education at the National Conservatory of Egypt. At the same time, he took part in a large number of projects, including great Egyptian virtuoso Abdou Dagher’s orchestra, of which he is one of the key members. He is also a member of several fusion groups, including the well-known Eastern jazz group El Dor El Awal.
Despite his youth, Essam is now one of the most respected Arabic oud players in Egypt, in great demand for both recording sessions and for orchestra concerts. He has been awarded with the prestigious prize for Best Arabic Oud Player given by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Culture two times in a row. In 2007, he represented his country at the Beethoven Festival in Germany. Talented with prodigious technique and an amazing sense of melodics, Hesham Essam has been Ali Khattab’s inseparable colleague since Ali’s project was created in 2007.
