Tour'n'sol Prod.
Imaginary healing rituals
First prize at International Songwriting Competition 2023
In spite of all the reasons to be angry in this world of ours, Naïssam Jalal has chosen not to seethe, but to soothe.
The flute player, composer and singer has relentlessly created music which taps into her instinctive strength. Healing Rituals could be considered as a formal climax – the quintessence of what the musician has been after. Her whispered art is a true ritual, drawing inspiration from traditional cultures and customs, especially the way they have been used throughout life to soothe and heal. The invisible realm is a recurring theme of Naïssam Jalal’s art, and one for which she was crowned in 2019 at the Victoires du Jazz. Her own reconnexion with the spiritual world lies at the root of these Healing Rituals, which bring together Egyptian, Moroccan and American traditions, aiming at collective grace.
« These imaginary healing rituals address the three imperatives of a suffering body: silence, trance and beauty. Silence for calm, cooling down and contemplation. Trance to forget pain and anxiety. Beauty that the spirit needs to feed itself in order to find hope and the desire to live in front of the ugliness of a suffering body. Healing Rituals is a quartet close to « chamber music » that embodies the modernity of these rituals. And yet they are in line with healing rituals from ancestral and often animistic traditions that inspired me to compose them. » Naïssam Jalal
Production: Fondation Royaumont / Les Couleurs du Son, a recipient of the Aide à la structuration from DRAC Ile-de-France. Co-produced by Points Communs, Nouvelle Scène Nationale Cergy-Pontoise / Festival Sons d’hiver. Created at the Festival de Royaumont on September 12, 2021
Naïssam Jalal - flute, vocals, nay, composition
Clément Petit - cello
Claude Tchamitchian - double bass
Zaza Desiderio - drums
BBC Gilles Peterson
« …you know when you hear something and it just takes you away, just something different about it, which you haven’t heard before and you just want to find out more, discover more…I got that from Naïssam Jalal. »
The Guardian
« The flute came into its own as a solo jazz instrument through such pioneers as Yusef Lateef, Herbie Mann and Rahsaan Roland Kirk in the 1950s and 60s, broadminded improvising virtuosi who drew on ancient and modern techniques from cultures all over the globe. Jalal is a comparable 21st-century visionary, a remarkable artist . «
The Guardian
Top 10 « Albums of the year » 2023
Jazz FM, Blueprint
« …stops you in your tracks…” Chris Philips
Z BBC Radio 3
“an utterly sublime album…” Jumoké Fashola
La voix du Jura
« It was delightful, because the artist unveils a bit more of her personal and vibrant universe, giving back all its meaning to the word freedom. »
SWR 2 (CD der Woche)
Jazz’n’more
Multiphonics Festival - Festival Radio France - Jazzdor - Morgenland Festival - Jazz à la Petite France - Café de la Danse - Sons d'Hiver - Abbaye de Royaumont - Points communs, Scène National de Cergy - La Fraternelle - Le Solar - L'Estran - Osons Jazz Club
