Syrian Clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and His Arab Quartet Celebrate New Album at Joe's Pub

Syrian-born, Brooklyn-based composer/clarinetist Kinan Azmeh has announced the February 28th release of his 14th album Live in Berlin (Dreyer Gaido), for which he reconvened his New York-based genre-bending CityBand quartet featuring guitarist Kyle Sanna, bassist Josh Myers, and drummer John Hadfield. Influenced by the music of Azmeh’s homeland of Syria, Live in Berlin captures the arc of personal and collective anger, frustration, sadness and hope felt in the face of atrocities. Conceived during the 2011 Syrian uprising, the album presents six of Azmeh’s own deeply personal compositions (in addition to a piece by Kyle Sanna) recorded in front of a live audience 10 years later on the Pierre Boulez Saal stage in Berlin.
 
 “It moves me profoundly to be sharing this album with the world as my Syrian people are able to sing again after the long and costly struggle against tyranny and dictatorship. This album is dedicated to all who believe that making music is also an act of freedom.”  – Kinan Azmeh, composer/clarinetist
 
Azmeh has gained international recognition for what CBC Radio has called his “incredibly rich sound” and his distinctive compositional voice across diverse musical genres. Azmeh brings his music to all corners of the world as a soloist and commissioned composer with leading orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Berlin, and as a member of the Silkroad Ensemble with whom he won a Grammy Award,
 
Celebrating almost two decades together, Kinan Azmeh CityBand has received praise from critics and audiences alike, for its virtuosic and high-energy performances. Reaching a balance between classical, jazz and world music, this Arab-Jazz quartet has been wowing audiences worldwide. 

Crossing boundaries between styles and genres, between composition and improvisa­tion, the quartet plays “music that is inspired by a multitude of traditions without being limited by any of them,” as Azmeh describes it.  Azmeh’s expressive clarinet meets Kyle Sanna’s rustic guitar, soaring at times over the dynamic and volatile backdrop of John Hadfield’s drums and Josh Myers’ double bass. Live in Berlin presents the quartet at an elevated level of consciousness and artistry.