Abozekry “has a stunning command of his instrument, as well as an open ear for other forms.” (PASTE MAGAZINE)
VIRTUOSO OUD PRODIGY CONVENES EGYPT’S POPULAR AND CLASSICAL MUSIC TRADITIONS, SUFI CALLS, AND SECULAR POETRY WITH A NEW INSTRUMENTAL PROJECT.
Mohamed Abozekry has that rare gift of combining limitless virtuosity with an unbridled imagination. An oud master still in his mid-twenties, Abozerky’s ambitions – to musically interpret the world around him and de-exoticize his instrument – mark him as a polymath of forms. “I never move backwards, but in a circular motion and return to the place I started with more experience.”
With Karkadé, Abozekry evokes the hibiscus tea found everywhere in Cairo, and the eponymous French café at which this project was born. He convenes Egypt’s popular and classical music traditions, her Sufi calls, and secular poetry, to musically describe a path to an Arab world at peace with its history and turned towards the future.
The presentation of Mohamed Abozekry & Karkadé is part of Center Stage, a public diplomacy initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts in cooperation with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations, with support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. General management is provided by Lisa Booth Management, Inc.
