WRITINGS ON THE WALL

PRESS QUOTES

...Sajrawy is the first to truly incorporate the traditional elements of Arabic music and the Jazz idiom... His tone and fluency are truly amazing, displaying all the elements that distinguish the best guitar players from the countless others, who play the instrument... Sajrawy truly deserves to break the barrier of relative anonymity and play on the biggest stages worldwide, as there are very few players who deserve it as much as he does... just listen to this music and eat your hat ;) In this case the saying hearing is believing seems suitable more that ever! This is an essential album for every guitar lover on this planet. Jazzis.com

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A unique and highly personal statement. Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times Magazine       

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Writings On The Wall should be nominated for the album of the month. ...Sajrawys second album is true Jazz - but from the purest quality. Folker 1/09

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...this Guitarist is playing the Blues of the Middle-East.  Ragazzi

Writings On The Wall is very colourful music. Together with Pianist Franck Dhersin, bass player Valeri Lipets and two alternating drummers Ameen Atrash and Evgeni Maistrovski the guitarrist is painting a dazzling portrait in modern music. Angela Ballhorn, Jazzthetik march 2009

Sajrawy is an expressive, appealing guitarist, and he shines as both an improviser and a composer on Writings on the Wall. Alex Henderson, billboard.com

Sajrawy casts a distinct voice into many of the roads frequently traversed. He doesn't reinvent the wheel per se, but injects a flavorful element into the core guitar-piano jazz quartet format. An excellent soloist, Sajrawy's insightful compositions help generate the blueprint for success. JazzReview.com
 

Michel Sajrawy distinguishes himself with a warm tone, fluid and supple single-line runs, and string bending to accomplish quarter-tone steps. It all jells to create a pleasingly lilting sound. He also meshes fusion-ish jazz with Makamat (the world music of the Arabic Middle East) by combining the basic song structures of the American style with the harmony of his native region. Jazz.com
 

feasting on Arabic scales, dreaming like in 1001 Nights or letting it swing in a virtuoso manner. Right the first two tracks, „Bride Of Galilee“ and „Writings On The Wall“, reveal a wide spectrum of emotions, means of expression and skills. Will make you ask for more. Blue global-mojo.com

...It started unconsciously with the Arabic melodies, the maqamat, and the way I play by bending the strings. But then I started to experiment with quartiles and altered chords. I could hear the maqamat in my head as soon as I played any one of these chords. Then I began to discover the relationship between these chords and maqamat, and found on the whole that the harmonization resulted in the common basis for maqamat and my jazz vocabulary. Alexander Schmitz, Jazzpodium März 2009

Search For Peace
Sajrawy unites up to ten musicians in his band, musicians of highly varied origins and religions. He doesn't write compositions of an appellative character, like the kind you hear at festivals, but extremely delicate, yet powerful, exquisite pieces that require above all precision: instrumental communicaton. A peace offering, lately supported by French pianist Frank Dhersin. Burkhard Baltzer, Kunst+Kultur 1/09

Moves through the Arabic world with his four comrads – the music is tight, beguiling, effective. Distinguished by harmony. Karin Paul, Melodie &Rhythmus März 09

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...a Fusion with Jazz and Middle Eastern elements.  Blue Rhythm

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...top class Modern Jazz with delicate solos of all four instruments... Frank Becker, omm

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Different from his Debut "Yathrib" the 38-year old guitarist is fronting a classic Piano Trio and just because of this he sounds more authentic than ever. Somehow contemporary and rooted. Reinhard Köchl, Jazzthing 02/03 2009 

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While Michel’s earliest recording focused more on the expression of a Middle Eastern Fusion style, he developed himself especially further as a rather distinctive jazz and jazzfusion guitarist. Gerald van Waes, psychevanhetfolk 

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A breath of Orient lies upon the opener "Bride Of The Galilee" as well as the following title track, but then the album turns to open minded, straight ahead Jazz, stringent, occidental and lyrical. Frank Becker, Musenblaetter