Origine Orients

Abaji says of the hybrid oud–guitar he built and played on his new album Origine Orients that it is his double. When you discover his pan–Mediterranean personal history – travelling between the lands of the oud and the guitar – it actually makes a lot of sense. Born in Lebanon to Turkish– born parents of mixed Greek, Armenian and Syrian origin, he was schooled in French and has lived in Paris since leaving Beirut in the mid–1970s. He has become a voracious multi–instrumentalist, owning some 250 instruments while also creating several new hybrids.

Abaji chose to record the album in one take, with all instruments arranged around him in the studio and percussion instruments even strapped to his feet. Singing in Greek, Turkish, Arabic, French and Armenian, he is an artist who seems continually to be seeking something just out of reach. As its name suggests, this album is a deeply personal musical journey back to Abaji’s roots. The hybrid instruments he plays sound rough and raw: you can hear every frayed edge as if you were sitting next to him. The same goes for his voice – which he uses like another instrument, often ascending into potentially tortuous flights of sound. These vocal meanderings can sometimes be a little off–putting – much more in keeping is the deep bass growl into which he regularly descends. In fact, Abaji is most enjoyable in his more reflective moments, on tracks such as ‘Steppes’ and ‘Black Sea Blues’, when you feel a deep nostalgia for lands and people lost in the Mediterranean’s turbulent history.