Le Pas Du Chat Noir

Anouar Brahem | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 27, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B00006EXHT
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,546 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > World Music > Middle East > Arabic

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: World Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 27-AUG-2002

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anouar Brahem's Mastery Continues, December 11, 2002

By 

Scott MacFaden (Rockland, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Le Pas Du Chat Noir (Audio CD)

Anouar Brahem again ushers listeners into a sublime world that evidences a subdued, covert, but undeniable intensity of feeling and beauty. Forget all the allusions you may read here and elsewhere to other musics and eras, as so many fall into the comparison trap. Do not compare this work with French art music, Astor Piazzola, a pepperoni pizza, or anything else: accept and embrace this music on its own significant terms, and you will be abundantly rewarded. It stands entirely on its own!

Anouar Brahem's melodies are beyond poignant, he elicits astoundingly empathetic contributions from his two colleagues on piano and accordion, respectively, and his own playing is always in the service of his overall conception. I repeat, do not let others demean this great work by insinuating it is relaxing, or good for meditation, or otherwise exists as musical wallpaper. As a famous classical pianist once remarked when asked what was harder to play, the fast pieces or the slow ones, he said (and I am paraphrasing) the fast tempos are easy; it is the slow ones that cause me difficulty. Miles Davis said much the same thing about ballads-he felt them so deeply that he could no longer play them. Thanks to ECM for giving Anouar Brahem a global audience, and to the man himself for incomparable music. I can't wait for his next project............

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Brilliant Work from Anouar Brahem, September 8, 2002

By 

D. Levy (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Le Pas Du Chat Noir (Audio CD)

Anouar Brahem is a great artist. He manages to sound modern and archaic at the same time. His most recent previous album, Astrakan Cafe, evokes a North Africa, with his oud accompanied by clarinet and percussion. My favorite of his previous albums, Compte de l'Incroyable Amour, is a work of great spirituality and heart.

This album, Le Pas Du Chat Noir, with accompaniment from a piano and clarinet, sounds like sophisticated Parisian parlor art song, but of what era? Debussy's? Piaf's? Ravel's? Brahem's!

Typically perfect ECM audio engineering allows the listener to fall deeply into this music's thrall. Highly recommended.

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing mix of styles, September 20, 2002

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Le Pas Du Chat Noir (Audio CD)

Oudist Brahem branches out to embrace a mellow form of Parisian street music, improvising along with pianist Francois Couturier and accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier. Although the trio often echoes the Argentine tangos of Astor Piazolla, they shy away from the forceful grandeur of the style, mining a mellower, slightly Shadowfax-y, New Age-ish sound. Muted strains of Arabic classical, Argentine tango and Parisian musette mix with equal ease, and while the overall sound may be a bit goopy, it's also quite engaging. Relaxing, amorphous music with considerable richness and depth.