Arabop Michel Sajrawy

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Info for Arabop

There are no boundaries in the world of jazz, and if there are, they are there to break through,- playfully and with ease. For Michel Sajrawy, a Palestinian of Christian faith who comes from Nazareth and has an Israeli passport, overcoming contradictions is an important element - in everyday life, and in his music. This guitarist and composer is melting his fellow-musicians’ diverse religious faiths into a bubbling blend of, jazz, intoxicating Arabic rhythms and arabesque sounds. He sets on a groundbreaking fusion trip through the musical world of orient and occident.

“Arabop' is a word I invented in order to reflect the presence of the essential characteristics of Arabic music and bebop lines in my music. This is my third album, a major departure from my previous works. It has completely new sounds, sounds that never have been created on any previous recording… I went beyond what is allowed to play on the instrument… After trying different ones I returned to the Stratocaster – the one that my parents bought me when I was in high school.” (Michel Sajrawy)

With brewing energy, virtuosity and sometimes unbelievable speed this musician is combining Fusionjazz, Rock and Makamat, the Worldmusic of the arabic middle east.

Michel Sajrawy, Composer, Arranger, Guitarist & Keyboards Programing, Electric Bass Amiram Granot, Sax Maali Klar, Soprano Sax Samir Makhoul, Oud & Vocal Valeri Lipets, Contra Bass Wisam Arram, Darbuka & Shakers Stas Zilberman, Drums Nehaya Damouni, Chant Adnan Haddad, Speech

Michel Sajrawy - Guitarist and composer was born to a Palestinian family from Nazareth - Israel. At the age of nine he started taking guitar lessons. During the years 1990-93 he studied for and received a diploma in electronic engineering. In 1995 he moved to London, England, where he studied and completed a one-year diploma at the Musicians' Institute - G.I.T. He began a three-year degree program in music composition at The London College of Music in 1996 under the instruction and assistance of Adam Gorb.. During the years 1999-2000 Michel furthered himself with the assistance of Adam Gorb and Nigel Clark to complete his masters degree in film and TV scoring.

In 2000 he returned to Nazareth and established his own business Dasam Studio (Dasam is a word in Arabic for ''rich food''). As a band leader, he released his debut album Yathrib (Ozella Music 2006) which marked his entrance into the vanguard of crossover artists who see themselves creating an uncompromising jazz sound between traditional and contemporary. Then released his second album, Writings On The Wall (Ozella Music 2009) which marked a strong turning towards filigree west-eastern acoustic jazz. Among the jazz releases, the album became on the Top List "Best albums of 2009" of Freies Radio Stuttgart in Germany.

Michel can easily join the ranks of seminal jazz guitarists. With his band, he played in different parts of the country, toured in Germany and played the Leipzig Jazz Festival (2006), played in Switzerland-Geneva (2007), Jerusalem Festival (2007) where he met and jammed with Nigel Kennedy. He played in the Netherlands (2008), the same year he played in New York (USA). Played the Jordan Festival (2009) and Tel Aviv Jazz Festival (2009).

He worked with Abboud Abdel'All, Bashir Abdel'All, Ahmed Mukhtar, Samir Jubran and Manfred Leuchter. He composed music for several documentary films, arranged the music for theatre, various mini orchestral projects and produced radio jingles for the major brands in the country. Michel has been awarded the Wilfred Joseph Prize (1998-99 England), Best Title in Music (2002 Israel) and the A. M. Qattan Foundation's Performing Arts Grant for the year (2007 Palestine).

Booklet for Arabop