Riad's Takht Ensemble
The Riad's Takht* Ensemble brings together four accomplished musicians who play Adbdu Dagher’s New Sufi Music as well as some original compositions of Riad Abdel-Gawad issues of the albums : El Tarab El Aseel, Egypt, Mother of the World et Words of Peace : Riad Abdel-Gawad (violon), Moufadhel Adhoum (oud), Tammam Alramadan (nay) and Peter Borcsok (riqq, bendir and darbouka). They play according to the Arab-Egyptian tuning method and style of interpretation including taqaseem or melodic improvisation influenced by the sacred Egyptian Sufi chant called ibtihalat.
*A Takht (literally "stage") is a small Arabic ensemble, a sort of chamber orchestra of a few instruments. The takht allows you to play classical music, either suites or extracts from suites such as nouba and wali, but also popular music.
Les musiciens
Riad ABDEL-GAWAD : violon
Based in Brussels since 2022 where he brings together the present ensemble, Riad Abdel-Gawad is a violinist, composer and teacher, was born in Cairo in 1965, Egypt and grew up in the USA. After training in musical composition at Harvard University, Riad was for more than ten years a student, colleague and friend of Abdu Dagher, whose music he transcribed. He also studied for a year with Frédéric Rzewski at the Royal Conservatory of Liège in Belgium. While performing internationally he has produced three albums: El Tarab El Aseel – “Autochthonic Enchantment” (Incognito Records, 2006), Egypt – Mother Of The World (City Hall Records, 2010) and Words of Peace (Medan Elmusica, 2019). His compositions fall under three very distinct styles which he names: “contemporary and avant-garde”, “postmodern polystylistic” and “traditional authentic 3 international”. It fuses a variety of Western and Eastern genres and canons, but otherwise perpetuates the music and teaching of Abdu Dagher. He says that his work is located "at the probable frontiers that music will take in the 21st century".... His virtuosity is remarkable, particularly in improvisation.
Moufadhel ADHOUM : oud
Moufadhel Adhoum is an oud player who was born in a popular district of the Tunisian medina, the cradle of the country's music. It is therefore no surprise that at the age of 12, he began a musical journey and was trained in the oud by none other than the great Arab master Mr. Abderrahmane El Mehdi. In Belgium, his meeting with the singer Ghalia Benali marks the beginning of a nice collaboration spanning the years and still relevant. It is in particular thanks to his partner that he was able to perform on prestigious stages both in Belgium and abroad. At the same time, Moufadhel Adhoum was able to develop other projects, including the Hijaz group focusing on jazz and the Moufadhel ensemble in a more varied register highlighting his compositions and his musical openness.
Mohamed Amine El Korchi : kanun
After being initiated by his father, this young virtuoso of the kanoun or oriental zither, obtained a First Prize from the Fes Conservatory in 2021 followed by the Honorary Prize with distinction at the National Conservatory of Rabat in 2023. Based in Belgium, he continues to train with masters (Souhad Najem, Tristan Driessens, Khalid Mohamed Ali, Azzouz El Houri, Gogsel Baktagir) interested in Arabic sacred music and traditional Greek and Turkish music, he composes and transposes for the kanun. Considered by connoisseurs as a music prodigy, he has already participated in many concerts including: theInternational Kanun Festival in Meknes and then Rabat in 2018, the Lute Festival in C asablanca in 2019, the opening of the International Taragatle Festival and a concert at De Centraal Ghent in 2020, at the concert at Bozar Brussels (participation in the meeting of Ottoman and Arabo-Andalusian music with the masters Mohamed Briouel and Kudsi Erguner), at the Sultan Der Maanden Festival, Antwerp then at the Sacred Music Festival in Mantes with the diva Naziha Meftah in 2021, at the Institut du monde arabe in Paris in 2022, etc....
Peter Borcsok : darbouka, riqq, bendir
Peter is an international oriental percussionist of Hungarian origin currently based in Belgium. At the age of 15, he picked up a darbouka by chance and immediately fell in love with its sounds and connection. During his high school years, local musicians, seeing his curiosity and desire to improve, invited him to play with them. While practicing Balkan music and world music, Peter became more and more interested in the culture and musical roots of his instrument. His research led him to study with several professors including Akos Kertesz (HU), Laszlo Farkas Keonch (HU), Gabor Olvedi (HU), Fatima Gozlan (HU-ALG), to attend workshops and finally to a training camp. summer of oriental percussions. It was there that he first met the Egyptian master percussionist, Abdo Manssour, who quickly became his mentor and close friend maintaining his infinite motivation. He also discovered that playing the instrument with a dancer turned out to be something more meaningful and complex than "just playing together or jamming." Peter worked on creating projects and did regular theater performances with Abdo and Amaraya, as well as with a group of Hungarian darbouka players: Amar Tabla Band. In Belgium, he regularly accompanies the Arab women's choir - AWSA Zamaan. The last few years of playing more and more classical Arabic music and tarab led him to learn riqq and bendir. Performing with oriental groups such as Nagham Zikrayet, Ensemble Tarabella, Amel Jem3, Ensemble ALWANE and Riad Takht’s Ensemble... his lifelong journey of learning and understanding continues.