Alya Al-Sultani, Pat Thomas & Khabat Abas
PRE-ORDER: This item will be shipped with the aim to deliver on release day.
Release Date: 25 September 2026
Label: Discus Music
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 5051078028125
Genres: Jazz Avant-garde
Description
Manara is an improvised music trio that emerged from a love of poetry, a shared interest in the musical traditions of the Middle East and poetry as political resistance. Vocalist Alya Al-Sultani had arrived at a time where she was desperate to explore the performance of more poetry in her mother tongue - she wanted to find a vehicle for free improvisation that was not orientalised and captured the complexity of the identity of exiled individuals and those who think and feel differently to their surroundings. Having always admired and loved pianist Pat Thomas and cellist Khabat Abas' work, she believed that coming together would achieve that sound.
In the tradition of classical Middle Eastern music, the compositions start with a poem placed into the hands of a singer. In this case, a poem by Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour for which she was punished by imprisonment for 4 years and words by Palestinian-Jordanian writer Khadija Muhaisen Dajani. The trio is honoured to have the blessing of both poets to explore their work in this album.
Manara follows the poems' beacons in spontaneous collective composition.
Pat Thomas: electronics and piano
Khabat Abas: cello and self-built instruments
Alya Al-Sultani: voice
Tracklisting
Army Of Briars
Keith Tippett & Matthew Bourne
Laura Jurd & Paul Dunmall
Theo May's Odd Unit
Keith Tippett
Charlotte Keeffe
Ron Caines / Martin Archer Axis
Keith & Julie Tippett - Couple In Spirit
Alya Al-Sultani, Pat Thomas & Khabat Abas
David Virelles
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Stanley Cowell Trio; Stanley Clarke; Jimmy Hopps
Mark Sanders, Paul Rogers & Larry Stabbins
Too Noisy Fish
Ruins
Chansons Du Crepuscule (Helene Breschand,Elliott Sharp)
Ayumi Tanaka; Thomas Morgan; Thomas Stronen
