Le Cri du Caire

This trans-continental collaboration has had a lengthy gestation. It began with a 2013 performance by Egyptian singer and poet Abdullah Miniawy in Cairo, where a curfew from a second coup d’état had just been lifted. It led to sessions in 2016-17 with British composer/saxophonist Peter Corser, French trumpeter Erik Truffaz and German cellist Karsten Hochapfel. Now seeing release, the results are haunting and spiritually rich.

An air of foreboding hangs over much of the quartet's music. Sung in Arabic, Miniawy's plaintive, hypnotic vocals provide the impetus for Le Cri du Caire's brooding mix of traditional and contemporary styles. His echoed cries are reflected with sombre trumpets and cello runs on ‘Jarda Al Wadi’ while ‘Pearls for Orphans’ adds circular saxophone motifs that recall the minimalism of Steve Reich. Some lighter relief comes with the spirited proclamations and off-kilter percussion of ‘Kon Kama Kano’ while the breathy saxophones of ‘Splendid Tales’ add the feel of smoky jazz. But mostly, Le Cri du Caire is richly melancholic fare, as atmospheric and eerie as the photograph that adorns its cover.