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Amir ElSaffar

Amir ElSaffar, trumpeter, composer, singer, and santoor player, is garnering an international reputation for his work, both in the traditional Iraqi Maqam and in jazz music.

Described as "one of the important carriers of the Iraqi Maqam tradition" by Maqam master, Hamid al-Saadi, Amir currently leads the only ensemble in the US performing Iraqi Maqam, Safaafir. Amir sings and plays santoor, and is accompanied by traditional instruments, such as the joze (spike fiddle) and tabla. This ensemble has researched ancient practices that have been lost in recent generations, and is now reviving these sounds, continuing the legacy of the great masters of this tradition. Safaafir has appeared throughout the US, performing both for Iraqis as well as general audiences. Safaafir recently released a CD, entitled "Maqams of Baghdad."

In addition to his work in the traditional realm, Amir also leads a Sextet of Jazz and Arabic musicians that performs his suite, entitled Two Rivers, which invokes elements of the Iraqi Maqam in a modern Jazz setting.

Being of mixed Iraqi and American heritage, and an expert in Iraqi Maqam and jazz, Amir has been able to organically join both musical styles in a way that preserves the characteristics of each without compromising either. As Dave Douglas said of a recent performance, “when [Amir] picked up the trumpet…he was playing in the quarter-tone scales of traditional maqam. But that seemed to be a small point—it wasn't for effect or show, it was simply that he'd adapted his instrument to the needs of the music.” Amir was described in All About Jazz as "a virtuoso on the horn, but also an imaginative bandleader, expanding the vocabulary of the trumpet and at the same time the modern jazz ensemble."

Amir's Story:

Born in 1977 near Chicago, Illinois to an Iraqi father and American mother, Amir was influenced at a young age by an array of musical styles, including Classical, Rock, Jazz and Chicago-style Blues. He attended DePaul University in Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Classical Trumpet in 1999.

As a Classical trumpeter, Amir recorded with Daniel Barenboim and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on the 1999 Teldec release, "Tribute to Ellington," and was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 1997-1999, performing with such esteemed conductors as Pierre Boulez, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Maestro Barenboim.

As a Jazz trumpeter, Amir won two major competitions: the 2001 Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition and the 2001 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Improvisation Competition, and has performed with esteemed artists such as Cecil Taylor, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Randy Brecker, Miya Masaoka, and Samir Chatterjee, among others.

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Album Review

Aka Moon: Quality of Joy

Read "Quality of Joy" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Superato anche il traguardo dei 30 anni di attività, il trio belga degli Aka Moon ritorna con un nuovo progetto discografico, che rappresenta una summa del lavoro svolto finora, ma anche un nuovo punto di partenza verso altri orizzonti musicali. Come già accaduto in passato, al trio di base, costituito dal sassofonista Fabrizio Cassol, dal bassista Michel Hatzigeorgiou e dal batterista Stéphane Galland e rimasto invariato in tutti questi anni, si aggiunge un fitto stuolo di musicisti ospiti ...

Album Review

Amir ElSaffar River of Sound Orchestra: The Other Shore

Read "The Other Shore" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Secondo disco per la Rivers of Sound Orchestra, ensemble creato nel 2015 da Amir ElSaffar con il preciso intento di esplorare in modo originale le culture musicali delle sue origini. ElSaffar è infatti nato negli Stati Uniti da madre statunitense e padre di origini irachene; avvicinatosi precocemente alla musica, ha coltivato quella jazzistica dalla discoteca paterna e quella classica dalle frequentazioni della madre; musicista dalle collaborazioni di altissimo livello--tra gli altri Cecil Taylor e Vijay Iyer--solo da adulto si è ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Amir ElSaffar: In search of ecstasy

Read "Amir ElSaffar: In search of ecstasy" reviewed by Leo Sidran


Amir ElSaffar has spent much of his life in search of the ecstatic moments that help connect to something bigger. In his case, he does this through his relationship with music and culture. Trying to define or even explain what he does is not so simple, even for him. He leads five ensembles and has released seven albums over the past 16 years. His primary instrument is the trumpet, and he has devoted much of his career to ...

1
Live Review

Amir ElSaffar at Muziekgebouw

Read "Amir ElSaffar at Muziekgebouw" reviewed by Henning Bolte


Amir ElSaffar Muziekgebouw World Première LUMINESCENCIA at Flamenco Biennale NL 2019 Amsterdam February 2, 2019 Luminescencia" is a new work by US-American composer-musician Amir ElSaffar, co-produced by Dutch Flamenco Biënnale and French Fondation Royaument. It had its world-première in Amsterdam at this year's Flamenco Biennale, a country-wide festival in The Netherlands founded by Ernestina van de Noort in 2006. The line-up of the performing ensemble already indicated the extraordinary character of ...

Album Review

Amir ElSaffar Rivers of Sound: Rivers of Sound

Read "Rivers of Sound" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Questa monumentale opera del compositore e trombettista iracheno-americano sviluppa una sintesi musicale iniziata nel 2006 col sestetto Two Rivers di cui facevano parte anche il sassofonista Rudresh Mahanthappa e il batterista Nasheet Waits. Amir ElSaffar fonde il jazz d'avanguardia con alcune forme tradizionali orientali: la dimensione melodica microtonale del maqam convive con un cangiante tappeto ritmico e timbrico che si dipana da atmosfere statiche, atemporali, ad altre sinuose o concitate. Strumenti a corda come oud, buzuq e santur oppure percussivi ...

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Album Review

Amir ElSaffar/Rivers of Sound: Not Two

Read "Not Two" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Much has been written about Amir ElSaffar's Iraqi-American background and the influence that birthright has had on his music. The demographics, however, do little to prepare the ear for the exotic and completely distinctive sound that he creates. ElSaffar's Western and Middle Eastern amalgam of disciplines had best manifested itself in his sextet, the Two Rivers Ensemble. His Rivers of Sound ensemble of seventeen players expands ElSaffar's musical reach to incorporate a broader global perspective on Not Two.There ...

Album Review

Amir ElSaffar: Crisis

Read "Crisis" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Trentotto anni, chicagoano, padre iracheno e madre statunitense, Amir ElSaffar naviga a mezza via tra jazz canonico (inteso come linguaggio, non nel senso di mainstream) e musica araba, che si combinano, sovrapponendosi o giustapponendosi, nel procedere del suo sestetto, attivo (e immutabile) ormai da diversi anni. Diciamo subito che ciò che ci convince di meno è la vocalità dello stesso ElSaffar, fin troppo calata in una logica espressiva stereotipata e tutto sommato priva di quella vis rigenerativa ...

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Interview

Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz

There was a point during Amir ElSaffar's study of Arabic music where he almost didn't come back to jazz. He had gone to Iraq to study maqam, the system of melodic modes in traditional Arabic music, in order to bring some of the concepts into jazz. However, the experience proved to be a deepening one for ElSaffar. “I was supposed to spend three weeks in Iraq, but once I had gotten a taste I realized that I wasn't really getting ...

150

Recording

Amir Elsaffar - Inana (Pi Recordings, 2011)

Amir Elsaffar - Inana (Pi Recordings, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland

Amir ElSaffar is an Iraqi-American trumpeter and vocalist. He is also a skilled interpreter of Iraqi maqam, which he sings and plays on the santur. Inana builds on those concepts influenced by Middle Eastern music, and improvised jazz music. The first eight tracks of the album make up the Inana Suite, named after and inspired by the ancient Middle Eastern goddess, whom inspired some of the compositions on this album. ElSaffar is joined on this multi-cultural adventure by a group ...

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Event

Musical Traditions Of Iraq Converge With Traditions Of Jazz On 10/2 At Painted Bride In Old City

Musical Traditions Of Iraq Converge With Traditions Of Jazz On 10/2 At Painted Bride In Old City

Source: Phil Sumpter

Philadelphia PA—"Jazz on Vine," Philadelphia's longest continuing jazz series, offers jazz enthusiasts from the region a rare opportunity to travel to the outer reaches of jazz as Iraqi-American recording artist Amir ElSaffar returns to the Bride with “Two Rivers." The concert takes place, Saturday, October 2nd at 8pm. Tickets are $25. Crush card holders are entitled to a 40% discount before September 22nd and 20% discount after. Students and seniors receive a 25% discount off tickets. For more information and ...

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Event

Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers at Firehouse 12 This Friday May 30

Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers at Firehouse 12 This Friday May 30

Source: Improvised Communications

On Friday, May 30th, New Haven's Firehouse 12 will present the penultimate event of its 2008 Spring Jazz Series, a two-set performance by Iraqi-American trumpeter/composer Amir ElSaffar and his working group, Two Rivers. This group takes its name from ElSaffar's groundbreaking cross-cultural suite, which was commissioned by Philadelphia's Painted Bride Arts Center and documented on the acclaimed 2007 recording, Two Rivers (Pi Recordings). The music is a result of ElSaffar's immersion in the music of his ancestry, the Iraqi Maqam, ...

"Amir ElSaffar, the Iraqi-American trumpeter...is a virtuoso on the horn, but also an imaginative bandleader, expanding the vocabulary of the trumpet and at the same time the modern jazz ensemble. Accomplished in the jazz and Western classical fields, ElSaffar has also immersed himself in the Iraqi maqam. Much as Vijay Iyer has done with Carnatic music, ElSaffar is bringing the maqam - the urban classical music of Iraq - into contact with jazz. At Makor (Oct. 5th), during the second month of FONT, ElSaffar played an extended work called "Two Rivers", signifying the Tigris and Euphrates but also the commingling of musical worlds. He began the set on santoor, a type of hammered dulcimer. For a time the group seemed physically split between East and West - with ElSaffar, violinist/oudist/percussionist Zaafer Tawil and buzuq player/pianist Tareq Abboushi on the left and altoist Rudresh Mahanthappa, bassist Carlo DeRosa and drummer Nasheet Waits on the right. Gradually the boundaries blurred; ElSaffar migrated to a standard trumpet and a cornet with a slide, to enable microtones. The music ranged from mournful rubato song to raging New York-style improvisation. Waits took to the mix of rhythms with relish and skill. When ElSaffar returned to santoor, he began to vocalize in authentic maqam style, to haunting effect."

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Quality of Joy

Outhere Music Group
2023

buy

The Other Shore

OutNote Records
2021

buy

Rivers of Sound: Not...

New Amsterdam Records
2017

buy

Crisis

Pi Recordings
2015

buy

Alchemy

Pi Recordings
2014

buy

Inana

Pi Recordings
2011

buy

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