Winter Jazz: Anouar Brahem (TN) – After the Last Sky

The Black Diamond invites you to a reunion with the legendary Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem in the Queen's Hall, where he has previously performed. This time with a quartet consisting of British pianist Django Bates, Anja Lechner on cello and Mats Eilertsen on double bass.

After several years of silence, the album "After the Last Sky" was released in 2025, and the music is just as magical as Brahem's previous releases - and it is these release songs which will be played this evening.

Anouar Brahem

For around 40 years, Anouar Brahem has been creating eminent music, rooted in the sophisticated culture of his ancestors and a modern expression. He appears in many cross-cultural encounters and develops new connections between styles and worlds whose potential proximity had never been considered before he discovered them. For Brahem, it remains a matter of highlighting the ancient Arab tradition of learned music, here represented through his oud.

His 12 albums on the critically acclaimed ECM label (Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, John Hassel) and triumphant concerts in prestigious venues around the world with renowned colleagues such as Jan Gabarek, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette are proof of Anouar's place as one of the most fascinating and inspiring artists of our time. His sensitive yet rigorous music constantly redefines a cleverly composed universe of poetry and culture, always balancing discretion and sensuality, nostalgia and reflection.

After the Last Sky

Eight years after his last album Blue Maqams, Anouar Brahem returned in the spring of 2025 with a moving new album, After the Last Sky, named after a line of verse by the poet Mahmoud Darwish that asks: “Where will the birds fly, after the last sky?”

Graceful chamber music pieces for oud, cello, piano and bass subtly address the metaphysical question and its broad resonance in a troubled time. While drawing on traditional forms of Arabic music, Brahem has also consistently sought to engage with the wider world, finding inspiration in many sources from different cultures. In this spirit of openness, Anouar Brahem has assembled an international quartet to bring this – both intimate and universal – project to life.

On stage, his oud is surrounded by the refined piano playing of British Django Bates, the lyrical cello of Anja Lechner and – especially for this tour – the fluid yet down-to-earth double bass played by the great Norwegian master Mats Eilertsen. The deep mutual listening between the four musicians imbues the pure melodies – beautifully enhanced by arrangements that emphasize the complementary dialogue between cello and oud – with a moving emotional and expressive power.