Em Portugues

After recording with jazz greats, traditional Arab musicians, and classical string quartets--as well as writing symphonic orchestral works for the BBC Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern--what would a Lebanese composer do next? Of course he would go to Portugal and record the songs a young fado singer from Lisbon!

Rabih Abou-Khalil discovered Ricardo Ribeiro, a young singer from Lisbon who had already established a reputation for himself. He sings Abou-Khalil's compositions as if they were his own, mastering the complicated rhythms and unusual melodic lines with absolute ease. The result is an "imaginary folklore"; a music that sounds new and strange, yet familiar and natural, as if it had always existed. Perhaps it is the missing link between East and West, classical and modern, folklore and art music, deeply rooted in the everywhere and the nowhere.