Yara
Lebanese-born composer Rabih Abou-Khalil has spent most of his professional life in Europe, studying classical and popular Western music and integrating it into a jazzlike vision in collaborations with both Western and Asian musicians.Yarais yet another unique study in music; Abou-Khalil unites the Western string tradition (cello and violin) with frame drums and his own oud artistry to create a spacious, acoustic soundtrack for a film of the same name. Imagery is no stranger to this composer; his jazz excursions have created large, breathless landscapes.Yara, however, is a decidedly different creature. The music is a tempered, concise map measured in millimeters rather than miles. The interplay between the musicians is precise and careful and finds its beauty in incredibly small images that are surrounded by an all-important silence.Yarais a passionate whisper.--Louis Gibson