L’Algérie (2024)
for Extended Piano, Violin, Cello and Oud, with optional hand percussion
total duration: ~45 minutes

In nine movements:

I mémorial

II - Aïn Bessem

III - joie - sur les mélodies de Karim Ziad

IV - interlude

V - la reine

VI - les cloches

VII - interlude

VIII - inconnue

IX- traverser

Premiered by Either/OR (Jennifer Choi, violin, John Popham, cello, Bahar Badieitabar, oud, Richard Carrick, piano, Rafael Heredia percussion) on February 20, 2024 at Berklee in Boston, MA.

L’Algérie was written in December and January 2024 in Boston and Holland, MA.

Program notes

L'Algérie (2024) is an introspective followup to The Atlas (2023), incorporating references to my maternal heritage, specifically through melody.

While my family left Algeria for Paris after WWII, in many ways their Algerian lifestyle continued, with my grandparents speaking in Arabic and preparing hearty couscous meals. My mother, along with all french born in Algeria, is referred to as French “pied noir” and my generation of those born in France to them are sometimes called “pied gris.”

I first took to the music of the Maghreb (a region defined by the atlas mountains!) in my 20’s, through recordings, and have dug deeper into it at different stages of my life. My composition The Atlas has a movement referencing El Gusto, a 1950’s Chaabi band consisting of Jews and Muslims, reunited 50 years later, which was the springboard for this piece.

As is often the case, the piece the one plans to write is not the piece that ends up being written! I was initially drawn to the entrancing and elaborate polyrhythms of North African dance music. But as I wrote this piece, it was the Arabic and Cantoral styles of melody that most found their way into this score, albeit in a convoluted way.

Aïn Bessem is the name of the town where my maternal family is from, and movement with the same name is an exact transcription of a 1927 Cantoral song recording for voice and oud. There are also shorter melodic references incorporated into this score. Reinette l’Oraniste (1917-1998) was blind oud player and singer from Algeria who also relocated to Paris, and whose recordings are considered definitive versions of the Arab-Andalus style. One of her melodies is referenced in mémorial. Karim Ziad (b. 1966) is a drummer and percussionist from Algeria who’s an expert in North African grooves, with infectious Chaabi rhythms and upbeat sense of melody. In joie, there are references to his tune The Joker, as well as Kommi, his collaboration with Mehdi Nassouli and Omri Mor. The other melodies are my own, including the extended melodies in la reine (with a very brief reference to Ravel). The music is not about remembering or historicizing the past, it is about the dialogue one has in the present when considering the past, and present, and even where this might lead in the future.

This piece is dedicated to my family from Algeria, and in memory of Alain Arphi, who always dreamed big.