Ali Omar El-Farouk’s Maqamat Trio with Ayman Asfour and Johnny Farraj
Barbès, 376 9th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215, United States, New York City
After his successful solo oud performance of last year, Egyptian/Canadian oud player Ali Omar El-Farouk returns to Brooklyn Maqam for the second year in a row, this time with his Maqamat Trio!
Following his return from Montreal to Cairo in 2019, Ali Omar El-Farouk had sought to create a context and collaboration in which he can continue playing Arabic Maqam Music repertoire in Cairo. With a preference for the trio formation which he had formed many different versions of throughout his career, he formed Maqamat Trio in 2021 with Ayman Asfour on violin and Hany Bedair on riq. The trio performed in Cairo continuously since its inception, with its latest performances taking place earlier this year.
As fate would have it, both Ali and Ayman would be in Brooklyn at the same time on August 14th, the date of the concert. So it only made sense for Ali to bring his Cairo-based Maqamat Trio to Brooklyn. This time, the two artists would be accompanied by none other than Brooklyn’s very own Johnny Farraj on riq.
It is worth noting that these three artists have either known each other or known about one another for years, having so much in common, and having still much more to share with one another. They are very excited to be performing together as a trio for the very first time, especially in front of Brooklyn Maqam’s very appreciative audience who know and love Tarab and Arabic Maqam music so much.
Ali Omar El-Farouk: Oud Ayman Asfour: Violin Johnny Farraj: Riq