Jaffa Blossom

Description

Inspired by numerous travels, the music of Mohamed Najem offers a unique approach where jazz aesthetics are enriched by purely Eastern influences. Led by a composer and clarinetist from Bethlehem, the quartet effortlessly transitions from one shore to another, transforming Middle Eastern music into a new language. While adopting a typically jazz instrumentation (the quartet with piano-bass-drums rhythm), Mohamed Najem, a clarinetist born in Palestine, stands at the crossroads of three musical and instrumental cultures: jazz, classical music, and Eastern music. Inspired by the stories told to him by his grandfather, born in Jaffa ("the bride of the sea and the city of oranges"), Mohamed draws from his travels and memories the richness of his melodies, vibrant in color. In doing so, he creates, beyond styles, a new musical language, infused with Eastern and contemporary accents. Established in 2016, this ensemble has participated in numerous festivals in France, as well as as far as the French Institute in Gabon during the classical and jazz music week, and in Qatar during the Katara European Jazz Festival. In June 2017, the quartet was one of six groups competing in France's most important jazz competition, the National Jazz Competition of La Défense. They toured the United Kingdom in July 2017, performing in London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and Edinburgh, and played at the Ora Jazz Festival in Romania, the Multiphonics Festival in Germany, and recently at UNESCO in Paris.