Anouar Brahem - After the Last Sky (2025)

Anouar Brahem
After the Last Sky
2025 - ECM Records: ECM 2838 / 753 4287 (CD) / 753 4425 (2 LPs)
https://www.ecmrecords.com/product/after-the-last-sky-anouar-brahem-anja-lechner-django-bates-dave-holland/
https://www.anouarbrahem.com/fr/discographie/after-last-sky
https://www.anouarbrahem.com/en/booklet-after-last-sky-en
https://www.dlmediamusic.com/artists/anouar-brahem-after-the-last-sky/

* Anouar Brahem: oud
* Anja Lechner : violoncello (1-3, 5-11)
* Django Bates : piano (1-3, 5, 7-11)
* Dave Holland : double bass (2-5, 7-9, 11)

https://www.anouarbrahem.com/
https://www.anjalechner.com/
https://www.djangobates.co.uk/
https://www.daveholland.com/

Recorded by Stefano Amerio at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI,
Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland, on May 2024.

Reviews
~~~~~~~

By Thom Jurek
https://www.allmusic.com/album/after-the-last-sky-mw0004460659

Oudist and composer Anouar Brahem has kept a low profile since 2017's Blue
Maqams. He appeared with Anja Lechner and Francois Couturier on Lontano, but
has otherwise been absent. Brahem enlists longtime collaborator/bassist Dave
Holland and pianist Django Bates -- both appeared on Blue Maqams. Lechner
appears in place of the last album's drummer, Jack DeJohnette, and is the first
cellist to appear on one of Brahem's LPs. Recorded in Switzerland, it was
produced by Manfred Eicher. The album's name echoes the title of a 1986 book by
cultural critic, activist, and author Edward Said, and was derived from a line
by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish: "Where should the birds fly, after the
last sky?" Begun before October 6, 2023, it is nonetheless deeply inspired by
the horror and suffering experienced by Palestinians in Gaza. Brahem wrote new
compositions and reworked some of the earlier ones to communicate and evoke raw
emotion about this situation. Lechner's poignant cello is primary, up
front. She and Brahem move through Eastern modes and motifs, blurring the lines
between folk, classical, and jazz. [...]

--

By Filipe Freitas
https://jazztrail.net/blog/anouar-brahem-after-the-last-sky-album-review

By Nick Lea
https://jazzviews.net/anouar-brahem-after-the-last-sky/

By Gary Whitehouse
https://agreenmanreview.com/music-2/anouar-brahems-after-the-last-sky/

By Maddy Allison
https://www.prestomusic.com/jazz/articles/6453--recording-of-the-week-anouar-brahem-after-the-last-sky

By Stephen Graham
https://marlbank.net/2025/03/20/anouar-brahem-after-the-last-sky-ecm/

By Mike Gates
https://ukvibe.org/album_reviews/anouar-brahem-2/

Hegedüs Zsuzsanna (hu)
https://www.jazzma.hu/lemezpolc/kulfoldi-eloadok/brahem-anouar/after-the-last-sky/kritika/brahem-anouar-after-the-last-sky/

Rolf Nilsén (se)
https://www.lira.se/skivrecension/after-the-last-sky/

Ralf Dombrowski (de)
https://www.jazzthing.de/review/anouar-brahem-after-the-last-sky/

Mario Calvitti (it)
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/after-the-last-sky-anouar-brahem-ecm-records

Par Yves Tassin (fr)
https://jazzmania.be/anouar-brahem-after-the-last-sky/

Por Juan Manuel Mannarino (es)
https://www.revistaotraparte.com/musica/after-the-last-sky/