DJ Amir

Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
February 21, 2012

There was a point during Amir ElSaffar's study of Arabic music where he almost didn't come back to jazz. He had gone to Iraq to study maqam, the system of melodic modes in traditional Arabic music, in order to bring some of the concepts into jazz. However, the experience proved to be a deepening one for ElSaffar. “I was supposed to spend three weeks in Iraq, but once I had gotten a taste I realized that I wasn't really getting ...
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Amir Elsaffar - Inana (Pi Recordings, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
October 24, 2011

Amir ElSaffar is an Iraqi-American trumpeter and vocalist. He is also a skilled interpreter of Iraqi maqam, which he sings and plays on the santur. Inana builds on those concepts influenced by Middle Eastern music, and improvised jazz music. The first eight tracks of the album make up the Inana Suite, named after and inspired by the ancient Middle Eastern goddess, whom inspired some of the compositions on this album. ElSaffar is joined on this multi-cultural adventure by a group ...
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Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers at Firehouse 12 This Friday May 30

Source: Improvised Communications
May 27, 2008

On Friday, May 30th, New Haven's Firehouse 12 will present the penultimate event of its 2008 Spring Jazz Series, a two-set performance by Iraqi-American trumpeter/composer Amir ElSaffar and his working group, Two Rivers. This group takes its name from ElSaffar's groundbreaking cross-cultural suite, which was commissioned by Philadelphia's Painted Bride Arts Center and documented on the acclaimed 2007 recording, Two Rivers (Pi Recordings). The music is a result of ElSaffar's immersion in the music of his ancestry, the Iraqi Maqam, ...
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Synergy: Sight and Sound by Amir Bey & Saco Yasuma Bowery Poetry Club May 8

Source: All About Jazz
April 4, 2006

SYNERGY: Sight and Sound

by AMIR BEY & SACO YASUMA

Bowery Poetry Club 308 Bowery 212-614-0505 Monday, May 8, 2006 8:30 PM $12.00

Synergy, a high-energy free-improvisational jazz band, the innovative collaboration between the sculptor/designer Amir Bey and the saxophonist/composer Saco Yasuma, continue their series of concerts at Bowery Poetry Club on Monday, May 8, at 8:30 PM.

Synergy's concept is based on combining the visual and musical arts; the ...
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