D'ARTE Concert 2022. Le Piano Day. Bachar Mar-Khalifé & Meryem AboulouafaD'ARTE Concert 2022. Le Piano Day. Bachar Mar-Khalifé & Meryem Aboulouafa

Son of Marcel Khalifé, one of the proponents of the Levantine repertoire of today, Bachar Mar-Khalifé uses his knowledge of scholarly music in the service of encounters with figures as varied as the beatmaker Chapelier Fou and the late singer Christophe. Recorded on the Parisian campus of Jussieu with the Moroccan performer and songwriter Meryem Aboulouafa, the Franco-Lebanese pianist delivers a musical performance whose introspection is matched only by the sophistication of the arrangements. This dimension is perceptible in "Zakrini," whose piano chords carry the voices in unison, and in a cover of "Je Crois Entendre Encore," an aria by Georges Bizet revisited here with great emotion. As part of Arte's Piano Day, this intimate session also offers its share of virtuoso sequences as evidenced in "Jnoun," whose present version literally reinvents the illustrious struck stringed instrument. Fascinating from start to finish, this television program readily refers to the texts of singer Leonard Cohen and more specifically to the memorable "Sisters of Mercy," and to the poetry of Mahmoud Darwich, a Palestinian author mentioned in July 2022 by Bashar Mar-Khalifé and his father, within the framework of the Jazz à Vienne festival. Vincent Caffiaux.