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Michel Sajrawy

Guitarist and composer Michel Sajrawy 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).

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10
Album Review

Michel Sajrawy: Floating City

Read "Floating City" reviewed by James Nadal


In his ongoing quest to create a singular jazz alignment bridging traditional and contemporary music of his homeland, Israeli guitarist Michel Sajrawy explores the multicultural background of the city of Nazareth, in Floating City. Though Jerusalem gets all the headlines and global attention, Nazareth stands apart as a city epitomizing co-existence in a region ravaged by religious strife, and turmoil. With his previous releases exposing a western slant on Arabic maqam music, this record has Sajrawy burrowing into ...

3
Album Review

Michel Sajrawy: Arabop

Read "Arabop" reviewed by James Nadal


Arabian music is distinguished by its historical documentation as far back as the seventh century. If performed and heard today, it is readily identifiable for its distinct configuration or format, based on maqamat (modes) and jins (sets of notes), which provide its unique ethnic sound. Enter into this equation guitarist Michel Sajrawy, who catapults Arabian-derived music into the stratosphere with Arabop. He has perfected his ability to perform exotic arrangements on his trusted Fender Stratocaster by bending and coercing his ...

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Recording

Arab-Jazz Merger of Guitarist Michel Sajrawy Dances on "Arabop"

Arab-Jazz Merger of Guitarist Michel Sajrawy Dances on "Arabop"

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Palestinian guitarist Michel Sajrawy was shredding in a Nazareth basement with his buddies when he found the answer: a guitar technique that let him play both Arab and Western melodies with perfect flexibility. “Suddenly I came up with a maqam-based solo, in the middle of a rock song,” Sajrawy recalls. “My musician friends were fighting me, shouting, ‘It’s maqam! You should play traditional rock!’ I have a unique way that makes me produce these sounds on ordinary guitar, with total ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Floating City

Self Produced
2017

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Arabop

Dasam Studio
2012

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Yathrib

Blue Note
2006

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Bride Of The Galilee

From: Writings On The Wall
By Michel Sajrawy

Videos

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