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Anouar Brahem (French transliteration of the Arabic أنور ابراهم) was born on October 20, 1957. He is a Tunisian oud player and composer who is widely regarded as an innovator in his field. Performing for primarily a jazz audience, he fuses Arabic classical music, folk music and jazz and has been recording since at least 1991 after becoming prominent in his own country in the late 1980s.

Brahem began studying the oud at age 10 under the tutelage of Ali Sitri at the National Conservatory of Music in Tunis. In 1987, after six years in Paris, he spent two years as the director of the Ensemble Musical de la Ville de Tunis. ECM released his first album (not counting a cassette self-release in his youth) in 1991, called Barzakh.

In playing style, Anouar Brahem is often compared to Rabih Abou-Khalil, though his compositions tend to be more mellow and spare. Most often he utilizes an ensemble of three or four musicians. He has collaborated throughout his career and on several albums with other musicians: Tunisian percussionist Lassad Hosni and violinist Bechir Selmi and Turkish clarinetist Barbaros Erköse. He has also performed live concerts with these same ensembles.

• 1991, Barzakh (ECM 1432) with Lassad Hosni and Bechir Selmi.
• 1992, Conte de l'incroyable amour (ECM 1457) with Barbaros Erköse.
• 1994, Madar (ECM 1515) with Jan Garbarek and Shaukat Hussain.
• 1995, Khomsa (ECM 1561) with Richard Galliano and Bechir Selmi and Francois Couturier.
• 1998, Thimar (ECM 1641) with John Surman and Dave Holland.
• 2000, Astrakan Café (ECM 1718) with Barbaros Erköse and Lassad Hosni.
• 2002, Charmediterranéen (ECM 1828) with Orchestre National de Jazz and Gianluigi Trovesi.
• 2002, Le Pas du Chat Noir (ECM 1792) with Francois Couturier and Jean-Louis Matinier.
• 2006, Voyage de Sahar (ECM 1915) with Francois Couturier and Jean-Louis Matinier.

• Anouar Brahem’s official website